Laser therapy in the tissue repair process: a literature review.
OBJECTIVE
Carry out a literature review on the use of laser therapy in the tissue repair process and address the different lasers and parameters used by the authors.


METHODS
A review was carried out of the literature from 1960 to 2008 in the Lilacs, Medline, and PubMed databases using the following key words: Laser Therapy, Wound Healing, and Tissue repair.


RESULTS
The most frequently used types of laser are helium neon (HeNe) lasers and diode lasers, including gallium-aluminum-arsenium (GaAlAs), arsenium-gallium (AsGa), and indium-gallium-aluminum-phosphide (InGaAlP) lasers. However, implementation of different protocols was found, with different materials and different activating wavelengths, thus making it difficult to compare results and choose the parameters of treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of authors report that laser therapy speeds up the process of tissue repair, but further studies are suggested to determine the best parameters to be used.
da Silva
Jacqueline Pereira
JP
Physiotherapy Department, Faculdade de Tecnologia e Ciências, Vitória da Conquista, Brazil. jacquepereira@gmail.com
da Silva
Maéli Alves
MA
Almeida
Ana Paula Figueiredo
AP
Lombardi Junior
Império
I
Matos
Areolino Pena
AP
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000528:radiation effects*