Laser therapy promising for smaller strokes

Stroke is one of the top causes of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability. A new experimental stroke treatment that sends laser beams into the affected part of the brain may help patients with milder strokes to reduce their crippling effects. According to researches, the first major clinical trials of the technology failed to significantly lower stroke disability in patients. However, researches said that patients with moderate to moderately severe strokes did improve after the laser treatment. The FDA has only approved the drug known as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, to treat the most common type of stroke. Experts agree that new treatments are needed. The doctors that used the laser device sent low-energy infrared radiation into the brain of the patients after a stroke. About 36 percent of those given the laser treatment had either mild or no disability compared to the 31 percent of those not given the therapy. Justin Zivin of the University of California San Diego, who led the study funded by PhotoThera, said it is unclear exactly how the laser treatment may be helping the patient but said it may reduce cell death, increase new cell growth and boost energy metabolism.

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