Phototherapy promotes healing of chronic diabetic leg ulcers that failed to respond to other therapies

OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that combined 660 and 890 nm LED phototherapy will promote healing of diabetic ulcers that failed to respond to other forms of treatment. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A double-blind randomized placebo controlled design was used to study 23 diabetic leg ulcers in two groups of 14 patients. Group one ulcers were cleaned, dressed with 1% silver sulfadiazine cream and treated with "placebo" phototherapy (<1.0 J cm(-2)) twice per week, using a Dynatron Solaris 705(R) device. Group two ulcers were treated similarly but received 3 J cm(-2) dose. RESULTS: At each of 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 days of healing, mean ulcer granulation and healing rates were significantly higher for group two than the "placebo" group (P < 0.02). While "placebo" treated ulcers worsened during the initial 30 days, group two ulcers healed rapidly; achieving 56% more granulation and 79.2% faster healing by day 30, and maintaining similarly higher rates of granulation and healing over the "placebo" group all through. By day 90, 58.3% of group two ulcers had healed fully and 75% had achieved 90-100% healing. In contrast, only one "placebo" treated ulcer healed fully by day 90; no other ulcer attained > or =90% healing. CONCLUSION: Combined 660 and 890 nm light promotes rapid granulation and healing of diabetic ulcers that failed to respond to other forms of treatment.