Low level laser treatment of primary and secondary Raynaud's phenomenon.
BACKGROUND
Patients who had been treated with low level laser (LLL) for their digital ulcers reported an impressive improvement of their symptoms of episodic digital ischaemia. Therefore this pilot study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of LLL as a new non-drug non-invasive treatment for patients with primary and secondary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP).


METHODS
Forty patients (29 female, 11 male, mean age 51 years) with active primary (28%) and secondary (72%) Raynaud's phenomenon received 10 sessions of LLL distant irradiation during winter months. Assessment of subjective and objective parameters was performed at baseline, one week after the last session and three months later. Variations of subjective parameters as number of daily acute episodes and severity of discomfort were assessed by a coloured visual analogue scale. A standardised cold challenge test using computed thermography of continuous temperature recordings by means of infrared telethermography was used to assess the digital blood flow.


RESULTS
A significant improvement was noticed clinically and thermographically after 6 weeks and 3 months, respectively (p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that LLL treatment has a good short and medium term effectiveness in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon.
al-Awami
M
M
Department of Medical Angiology, University of Vienna, Austria. Salawama1@akh-wien.ac.at
Schillinger
M
M
Gschwandtner
M E
ME
Maca
T
T
Haumer
M
M
Minar
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011928:Raynaud Disease / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000528:radiation effects; D012881:Skin Temperature / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome