Abstract
To investigate the effects of different low-level laser therapy (LLLT) doses on random skin flap rats. Forty Wistar rats were randomly divided in four groups. The control group (CG) was not irradiated. The experimental groups were irradiated with a diode laser 670 nm with different energies per point: group 2 (G2) with 0.06 J; group 3 (G3) 0.15 J and group 4 (G4) 0.57 J. The three groups were irradiated in 12 equally distributed points in the cranial skin flap portion. They were submitted to the irradiation during the immediate, first and second postoperative days. The necrosis area was evaluated in the seventh postoperative day. The CG shows 49.35% of necrosis area in the skin flap; G2, 39.14%; G3, 47.01% and G4, 29.17% respectively. There was a significantly difference when G4 was compared with CG`s skin flap necrosis area. The low-level laser therapy diode 670 nm with 0.57 J energy per point increases the survival in randomic skin flap rats.
Highlights
In plastic and reconstructive surgery, skin flap is the most frequently used method for repairing tissue loss following trauma or surgical procedures[1,2].Low-level laser irradiation may increase flap survival, provided that an appropriate amount of energy is delivered
Laser treatment has been reported to give good results when applied to skin flaps[3,4,5,6,7,8], except for Smith[9], who did not find any significant effect in the use of this therapy
Comparison of results between the groups Group 1 (G1)-group 2 (G2), G1-group 3 (G3) and G1-group 4 (G4) was carried out, and a statistically significant difference was found between the G1 and G4 groups using the Kruskal-Wallis test (p=0.0007) and Dunn’s Multiple Comparison test (p0.05) (Table 2)
Summary
Low-level laser irradiation may increase flap survival, provided that an appropriate amount of energy is delivered. Laser treatment has been reported to give good results when applied to skin flaps[3,4,5,6,7,8], except for Smith[9], who did not find any significant effect in the use of this therapy. To the best of our knowledge, the evaluation of the viability of random-pattern skin flaps in the rat after 670 nm laser treatment at different therapeutic doses has not been carried out by any other researcher, and this provided the motivation for this study The current challenge for researchers in laser therapy is to find the appropriate parameters (wavelength, output power, emission mode, spot size and shape of the laser beam, length of irradiation, and applied technique) for the therapeutic application to be effective, whether at high or low power, or in photodynamic therapy[10,11,12,13,14].
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