• CANCER – the evidence so far shows
    • THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF HARM FOR CANCER PATIENTS BEING TREATED WITH PBM THERAPY ACTUALLY THE EVIDENCE IS THE OPPOSITE (read below). PBM Therapy is used in chemo and radiotherapy to stop/help counteract their side affects.
    • Early emerging animal study evidence has shown that PBM Therapy may also help in the treatment of cancer.
    • Even though there is no evidence contrary to the above statement, if you are having ACTIVE cancer treatment now with Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy we would advise you (as we consider it courteous and best practice) to let your Oncologist know you want to have PBM Therapy. If you are in ACTIVE cancer treatment, as part of our consultation paperwork we will ask you if you have informed the Oncologists/team that you are are starting PBM Therapy.
    • Despite an ever increasing evidence base to help counteract and prevent the side effects of Chemo/Radiotherapy (see pdf’s) very few cancer specialists (Oncologists, Haematologists, Surgeons, Doctors and Nurses) in our experience have ever heard of PBM Therapy (or its old name ‘LLLT or Low Level Laser Therapy’ – read this link why there has been a name change to PBM Therapy), if they have heard about it, even less understand the mechanisms of action and so benefits of PBM Therapy. So to make it easier for your consultant to see the evidence for themselves we have created 5 pdf’s below.
    • Simply send this web page url or show the consultant this short web link bit.ly/4fIqZtH to get to this page.
    • Alternatively download all of the 5 pdf’s below and email then to your consultant (or download and print them out!)

Evidence of PBM Therapy Helping Cancer Treatment Side Effects

    • PBM therapy is an increasingly accepted treatment for the side effects of Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy – Oral Mucositis – which is a severe ulcerating inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth (it can also effect the intestines, bowels and vagina) which occurs as a direct consequence of having Chemotherapy/Radiotherapy treatment for active cancer. In the PDF immediately below PBM Therapy is also referred to by its old name ‘LLLT or Low Level Laser Therapy’ – the two names are interchangeable) and has NHS approval for Oral Mucositis. The PDF has the NHS web page URL in it along with the NICE recommendations.

PBM Therapy Research And Cancer

    • The PDF immediately below contains many published research articles demonstrating the routine use of PBM Therapy (LLLT or Low Level Laser Therapy) for Oral Mucositis

PBM Therapy Research And cancer

    • This PDF immediately below is a significant level III Random Controlled Trial (RCT). It demonstrates the long term safety of PBM Therapy (LLLT) in Head and Neck cancer patients.  One group was given standard care the other standard care and PBM Therapy (LLLT) help to prevent/treat Oral Mucositis.  The long term follow up data showed increased survival rates from head and neck cancer in the group that had the ‘extra PBM Therapy‘. Significantly it showed in the long term there was no negative side effects of increased cancer growth at or near the site of the head/neck cancer where PBM Therapy was applied.

PBM Therapy Research And cancer

    • A review of the all the literature relating to the safety/efficacy of PBM Therapy and cancer was carried out by Professor Michael Hamblin et al. The conclusion was “PBM Therapy may have benefits in cancer patients and should be further investigated”.

PBM Therapy Research And cancer

    • PBM Therapy for Lymphodema after breast surgery is routinely performed by oncology nurses at and around the site of cancer surgery. The PDF immediately below contains many published research articles demonstrating the routine use of PBM Therapy (LLLT or Low Level Laser Therapy) whilst patients are under the care of a specialist oncologists/nurses.

PBM Therapy Research And cancer

PBM Therapy and Cancer Treatment

So far the evidence shows PBM Therapy is safe and effective in treating the side effects of Chemo and Radiotherapy for cancers, but there is emerging very very early animal evidence that perhaps it may also have the potential to play a beneficial role in cancer treatment. How much (if any) has not been established in humans and much more animal research and RCT trial evidence is needed before any conclusions can be made about potential benefits in humans. At the very least the information below could be taken as more weight that PBM Therapy is safe in cancer patients.

    • Research into whether PBM Therapy could improve cancer patients survivability/kill cancer cells is still very much in its infancy and much more research is needed to give any definite answers. Of interest in this video interview Professor of Biology, Genetics and Biochemistry, Thomas Seyfried, outlines how poorly functioning Mitochondria ATP pathways switch to alternative ‘fermentation energy pathways’ and thereby, according to Prof Seyfried’s research stimulates cancer cell growth. So, perhaps, by enhancing/improving the functioning Mitochondria ATP pathways (which PBM does) could then PBM Therapy potentially be a mechanism to help prevent/slow cancer cell growth? Might this go to explain the better survival rate in this RCT study? Again with so many variables much more research is needed before we can say if PBM could/might provide an extra treatment benefit in human cancer patients.
    • Published in the journal Nature Chemistry is a very interesting single animal study that has shown that NIR – Near Infra Red light (which is one of the wavelengths used in PBM Therapy) bursts and kills melanoma cancer cells when its applied to them via a ‘molecular jack hammer method‘. Again much more research is needed before we can say if PBM could/might be an extra treatment benefit in human cancer patients.
    • In another single animal study, when the known cancer causing chemical 4-nitroquinoline-n-oxide (4-NQO) was placed on the tongues of mice causing tongue cancer, those mice that also received Red and NIR PBM Therapy demonstrated significant slowed/reduced cancer development compared to those that did not have PBM Therapy. The authors conclusion was Photobiomodulation (PBM Therapy) reduces tumour development, accompanied by reduced inflammatory cells and content of cytokines and oxidative markers associated with carcinogenesis (cancer cell production). Again much more research is needed before we can say if PBM could/might be an extra treatment benefit in human cancer patients.
    • We know applying PBM Therapy to normal cells makes them function better and increases resistance to cell damage and cell death in a process termed preconditioning. This occurs by ‘cell upregulation’ stimulating protective cellular processes.
    • Historically the father of PBM Therapy Professor Endre Mester in 1967 used a ruby red laser (the other wavelengths of light used in PBM Therapy) on shaved mice to try and cause skin cancer. He actually found this did not happen, unexpectedly to him the shaved mice’s hair grew back faster without cancer than the control mice who did not have the ruby red laser! The biochemical mechanisms of how PBM works to achieve this benefit and other many other positive outcomes have now been rigorously investigated and established.