title: Phototherapy improves healing of chronic venous ulcers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We tested the hypothesis that LED phototherapy with combined 660-nm and 890-nm light will promote healing of venous ulcers that failed to respond to other forms of treatment.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  A variety of dressings, growth factors, and adjunct therapies are used to treat venous ulcers, but none seems to yield satisfactory results.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study to compare a total of 20 patients divided with 32 chronic ulcers into three groups. In group 1 the ulcers were cleaned, dressed with 1% silver sulfadiazine (SDZ) cream, and treated with placebo phototherapy (<.03 J/cm(-3)) using a Dynatron Solaris 705 phototherapy research device. In group 2 the ulcers were treated similarly but received real phototherapy (3 J/cm(-2)) instead of placebo. In group 3 (controls), the ulcers were simply cleaned and dressed with SDZ without phototherapy. The ulcers were evaluated with digital photography and computer image analysis over 90 d or until full healing was attained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ulcers treated with phototherapy healed significantly faster than controls when compared at day 30 (p +/- 0.01), day 60 (p +/- 0.05), and day 90 (p +/- 0.001), and similarly healed faster than the placebo-treated ulcers at days 30 and 90 (p +/- 0.01), but not at day 60. The beneficial effect of phototherapy was more pronounced when the confounding effect of small-sized ulcers was removed from the analysis. Medium- and large-sized ulcers healed significantly faster with treatment (>or=40% rate of healing per month) than placebo or control ulcers (p +/- 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Phototherapy promotes healing of chronic venous ulcers, particularly large recalcitrant ulcers that do not respond to conventional treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kelly Steinkopf
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Caetano
authors.forename: Marco Andrey Cipriani
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Frade
authors.forename: Débora Garbin
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Minatel
authors.forename: Luisiane Avila
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Santana
authors.forename: Chukuka S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Enwemeka
mesh_terms: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D010789:Phototherapy; D012837:Silver Sulfadiazine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014647:Varicose Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D012837:Silver Sulfadiazine