| Blood irradiation therapy | |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Hematology |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Alternative medicine |
|---|
 |
Blood irradiation therapy is an alternative medical procedure in which the blood is exposed to low-level light (often laser light) for therapeutic reasons.[1] The practice was originally developed in the United States,[1] but most recent research on it has been conducted in Germany (by UV lamps) and in Russia (in all variants).[2][3][4][5] Low-level laser therapy has been tested for a wide range of conditions, but rigorous double-blinded studies have not yet been performed.[6] Furthermore, it has been claimed that ultraviolet irradiation of blood kills bacteria by DNA damage and also activation of the immune system. Blood irradiation therapy is highly controversial, and has fallen from mainstream use since its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s.[1]
Blood irradiation therapy can be administered in three ways: extracorporeally, transcutaneously, and intravenously. The extracorporeal (outside the body) method removes blood from the body and irradiates it in a special cuvette (tube). This method is used for the ultraviolet (UV) blood irradiation (UVBI) by UV lamps. In the transcutaneous method, the radiation goes through the skin, by placing a device on the outside of the skin. In the intravenous method, a device is inserted into a large blood vessel. The laser light is monochromatic.
It is not related to the practice of gamma irradiation of blood in transfusion medicine.
- ^ a b c Hamblin MR (2017). "Ultraviolet Irradiation of Blood: "The Cure That Time Forgot"?". Ultraviolet Light in Human Health, Diseases and Environment. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Vol. 996. pp. 295–309. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56017-5_25. ISBN 978-3-319-56016-8. PMC 6122858. PMID 29124710.
- ^ Geynits AV, Moskvin SV, Achilov AA (2012). Внутривенное лазерное облучение крови [Intravenous laser blood irradiation] (in Russian). M.–Tver: Triada. ISBN 978-5-94789-501-8.[page needed]
- ^ Moskvin SV (2014). Effektivnost lazernoy terapii [The effectiveness of laser therapy]. Effective laser therapy (in Russian). Vol. 2. M.–Tver: Triada. ISBN 978-5-94789-636-7.[page needed]
- ^ Schwartz SO, Kaplan SR, Stengle J, Stevenson FL, Vincenti M (July 1952). "Ultraviolet irradiation of blood in man; studies of sixty-eight patients". Journal of the American Medical Association. 149 (13): 1180–3. doi:10.1001/jama.1952.02930300006002. PMID 14938136.
- ^ Knott EK (August 1948). "Development of ultraviolet blood irradiation". American Journal of Surgery. 76 (2): 165–71. doi:10.1016/0002-9610(48)90068-3. PMID 18876742.
- ^ Moshkovska T, Mayberry J (July 2005). "It is time to test low level laser therapy in Great Britain". Postgraduate Medical Journal. 81 (957): 436–41. doi:10.1136/pgmj.2004.027755. PMC 1743298. PMID 15998818.