CLASSIFICATION OF LASER APPLICATIONS IN LOW REACTIVE-LEVEL LASER THERAPY (LLLT)

Abstract

The indication of the laser in therapeutic applications has increased dramatically during the last decade, and particularly significantly during the last few years. With the increase of indications has come a concomitant increase in possible classification of laser reactions. The author presents a classification which is based on the laser/tissue reaction. when the level of tissue reactivity to very low incident power and energy densities is well below the cells’ damage threshold so that instead of being damaged the cells are directly activated by the low incident photon density, the changes in the irradiated tissue are photoactivative and reversible: the author refers to this group of reactions as low reactive-level laser therapy (LLLT), or more generally as laser therapy. LLLT is further subdivided into three main types: mono-type LLLT (Mo-LLLT, single laser therapy; multi-type LLLT (Mu-LLLT, multi-laser therapy); and concomitant LLLT (Cc-LLLT), in which any of the above LLLT types can be used in combination with conventional treatment methods. Mo-LLLT in turn contains pure LLLT (Pu-LLLT), single laser, single reaction; and auto-simultaneous LLLT (ASi-LLLT), single laser with a range of reaction types, each of which has its own abbreviation. Mu-LLLT contains two main sub-types, combined LLLT (Cb-LLLT) and compound LLLT (Cp-LLLT). Cb-LLLT concerns the same condition whereas Cp-LLLT is used to describe 2 or more conditions treated with the same or different lasers. Both Cb-LLLT and Cp-LLLT are further subclassified into the homogeneous and xenogeneous types, referring to the use of the same or different types of laser, respectively. If the lasers are applied at the same time, that is homo- or xeno-simultaneous laser therapy (HoSi-LLLT, XeSi-LLLT), and if at different times the term is homo- or xeno-succesive LLLT (HoSu-LLLT, XeSu-LLLT). The various sub-sets of Mono-type and Multi-type laser therapy are further expanded, to give an accurate, treatment-based categorization of LLLT. When the above classification is understood and used, the author feels this offers an accurate and simple method of classifying laser/tissue reactions by the reaction, rather than by the laser used to produce the reaction.