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Evaluation of the improvement effect of laser acupuncture biostimulation in asthmatic children by exhaled inflammatory biomarker level of nitric oxide

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Abstract

Variable therapy of asthma is not sufficient yet to achieve good asthma control. Therapy decision requires serial investigations. Low-level laser acupuncture is a suitable non-invasive modality of complementary medicine. The exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is easy and useful to evaluate the efficacy of drugs or novel therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of low-level laser biostimulation of acupuncture points on asthma improvement in children. Forty-eight asthmatic children were subdivided into case (laser) group, which received 12 direct contact low-power laser acupuncture sessions (three sessions/week) on specific traditional Chinese acupuncture points for bronchial asthma, and control asthmatic group, which received sham laser acupuncture on the same acupoints and number of sessions of the case (laser) group. Low-power Multichannel Aculas-AM laser (grade II) of wave length 780 nm, output power 800 mw, and beam spot size 0.1 cm2 with continuous mode was used. Eighteen acupoints were stimulated for 2 min, giving energy of 9.6 J/cm2/acupoint. The total session time was 3 min. Both groups were evaluated pre- and post-laser acupuncture intervention by recording levels of asthma control, pulmonary function, and EBC nitric oxide. In the case (laser) group, 91.7 % of patients experienced an improvement in the level of asthma control versus 25 % in the control group (p < 0.001). This was associated with a significant decrease of the breath condensate FENO concentration (p < 0.001) and significant increase of spirometry parameters (p < 0.001) in the case (laser) group. Application of laser acupuncture treatment given with conventional therapy can effectively improve bronchial asthma more than prescription of medications alone could.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Applications of Laser, National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES), Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Ola A. Dabbous & Mona M. Soliman

  2. Researches and Applications of Complementary Medicine Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    Nagwa H. Mohamed & Mai S. Elsheikh

  3. Pediatric Department, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Magda Y. Elseify & Asmaa A. A. Alsharkawy

  4. Clinical Pathology Department, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Manal M. Abd al Aziz

Authors
  1. Ola A. Dabbous
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  2. Mona M. Soliman
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  3. Nagwa H. Mohamed
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  4. Magda Y. Elseify
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  5. Mai S. Elsheikh
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  6. Asmaa A. A. Alsharkawy
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  7. Manal M. Abd al Aziz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ola A. Dabbous.

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The Ethics Committee of Children Hospital, Ain Shams University, National Research Center, and National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences, Cairo University, had approved the study and informed consent was obtained from all caregivers of the patients.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Dabbous, O.A., Soliman, M.M., Mohamed, N.H. et al. Evaluation of the improvement effect of laser acupuncture biostimulation in asthmatic children by exhaled inflammatory biomarker level of nitric oxide. Lasers Med Sci 32, 53–59 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2082-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2082-9

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