Low reactive level laser therapy (LLLT) involving low incident levels of laser light, is known for its normalizing effect on abnormalities of living bodies. A joint study by Keio University Institute of Physical Education, Japan Medical Laser Laboratory and the Ohshiro Clinic was conducted to investigate the application of the GaAlAs diode laser in the field of sports medicine during pretraining or pre-competition warm up and post-training cooling down. The ‘Sit and Reach’ test, blood oxygenation and pulse rates were measured in 17 athletes, 15 males and 2 females, before laser irradiation (A), after the first laser irradiation (B), after physical exertion (C) and after a second laser irradiation (D). The Oh-Lase HT 2001 semi-conductor laser was applied to the neck while the subject adopted a sitting position on the floor with the legs stretched forward. The subjects were requested to stretch (toe-touch) as far as possible followed by another 8 seconds of laser irradiation while the subjects were stretched and were measured for maximum stretching distance. The procedure was repeated. When statistical significance was evaluated there were significant changes between A and B, A and C, A and D, B and D, and C and D in the performance of the Sit and Reach Test, whereas significant differences in heart rate were seen between A and C, B and C, B and D, and C and D, and significant differences between A and B, A and D, B and C, and C and D in the blood oxygen saturation level. The results where significant differences between A and B, and C and D imply that the use of the GaAlAs laser during warm up and cool down is beneficial.

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Allergic rhinitis is a condition which shows a high prevalence throughout the world. Once a person is sensitized to a specific allergen, spontaneous resolution of the allergy occurs only very rarely and this results in a steady accumulation of patient population. Worldwide attention to this affliction is being paid from both the medical and the economic perspectives. In Japan, the most typical seasonal allergic rhinitis is caused by cedar pollen during the spring months of late February to early May. Rough estimates of a 15 to 20% prevalence rate have been reported and hence Japanese cedar pollinosis is deemed as a national disease. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the treatment are of great concern to the social medical system of Japan. Previously there have been several reports regarding the cost-effectiveness of new medications and desensitization immunotherapy. The authors have previously reported their experience of treating allergic rhinitis with the Nd:YAG laser and its efficacy. However there are no reports, as of yet, on the cost-effectiveness of this procedure. The authors compared the costs of three typical treatment protocols for cedar pollenosis: Nd:YAG laser treatment, anti-histamine prescription and desensitization immunotherapy. The results revealed that the direct costs associated with the Nd:YAG laser treatment were less compared to the two other treatment protocols. The authors also believe that the indirect economical losses associated with allergic rhinitis such as loss of work force for hospital visits was also lessened with the Nd:YAG laser treatment.

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For appropriate treatment of severe burn injuries, noninvasive, real-time diagnosis of the wound status, e.g., injury depth, is required; however, modalities for quantitative evaluation are limited. In this paper, a new method for multifunctional diagnosis of burns based on photoacoustic measurement is described. When a burn wound is irradiated with a short light pulse that is selectively absorbed by blood, the light can efficiently propagate though the injured tissue layer due to occlusion of blood vessels and the light is absorbed by blood in the healthy tissue layer under the wound, emitting a photoacoustic (PA) wave through a thermoelastic process. The PA wave can be detected with an acoustic sensor on the wound and its propagation time provides information on the depth of injury. In addition, PA measurement at dual wavelengths, oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin absorption dominant wavelengths, can provide information on local hemodynamics, which is also important for wound management. The validity of these techniques was demonstrated by experiments using rat burn models. Furthermore, applicability of this measurement to thick burned skins was examined by experiments using a thick burn mimicking model. The results suggest that the present PA diagnosis technique can be applied to human skin burns.

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The application of Low reactive Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) for the treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids has been already reported and investigated. According to these reports, LLLT for hypertrophic scars and keloids became routine very quickly. In recent years, the Proximal Priority Theory (PPT) for pain attenuation has become a routine approach. In this prospective study, we present the application of PPT for the treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids and discuss comparisons between the original LLLT and PPT approaches. Subjects comprised 19 patients who were treated for hypertrophic scars and keloids, 8 patients in the PPT group and 11 patients in the LLLT group. Clinical photography of the lesions was performed, and 4 items were assessed for each lesion, namely Itching, Pain, Erythema and Hardness on an 11-point scale for each value. The actual measurement values in mm and cm² of 2 items, thickness and size, were used for the original LLLT group. Each treatment session consisted of direct application of an 830nm, 60mW, continuous wave, GaAlAs diode laser (Oh-lase 3D1, JMLL Tokyo Japan) to the lesions for 30 seconds to 2 minutes per lesion depending on the size and number of lesions existing on each patient, or while the attending clinician firmly pinched the lesion between fingers and thumb during laser therapy. For the PPT approach group, the laser was incident only to the neck as dictated by the theory. The pinching of the lesion was the same as in the original LLLT group. In both groups, a significant difference (p<0.05) between pretreatment and 5 treatment sessions was recognized, and a significant difference (p<0.05) between 5 treatment sessions and 10 treatment sessions was also recognized in the Erythema and Hardness items. There were no differences between the PPT group and LLLT group in most of the items, but LLLT achieved better improvement in the Erythema item after 5 treatment sessions, compared with PPT.

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