Wound Healing In A Microgravity Environment

We have all heard how space technology can benefit us all here on Earth; well, this is no exception when we look at LED therapy. While the researchers in the field were fine-tuning their devices for pain relief, NASA needed a means to the use of light therapy with LEDs can help prevent bone and muscle atrophy as well as increase the rate of wound healing in a microgravity environment, thus reducing the risk of treatable injuries becoming mission catastrophes. They worked, and NASA took the next step.

Could LED’s help in healing injuries to astronauts while in space flight? One of the major dilemmas for NASA regarding long-term space flight is the well-documented effect of muscle and bone atrophy that occurs to astronauts while in space. In addition, it has been shown that injuries that occur while in space tend not to heal until the astronaut is back within the earth’s gravity. The LED’s that produced near-infrared light used in NASA’s research were shown to stimulate the basic energy processes by activating color sensitive chemicals within the cells. DNA synthesis in fibroblasts and muscle cells had been quintupled. The light absorbed by the cells stimulated the metabolism in muscle and bone as well as skin and subcutaneous tissue.

What people and animals had felt through utilizing this technology in real life, NASA was proving to be true in the laboratory. An excellent review of recent human experience with near-infrared light therapy for wound healing was published by Conlan, et al (Conlan, 1996). Lasers provide low energy stimulation of tissues which results in increased cellular activity during wound healing (Beauvoit, 1994, 1995; Eggert, 1993; Karu, 1989; Lubart, 1992, 1997; Salansky, 1998; Whelan, 1999; Yu, 1997) including increased fibroblast proliferation, growth factor synthesis, collagen production and angiogenesis.

Lasers, however, have some inherent characteristics that make their use in a clinical setting problematic, such as limitations in wavelength capabilities and beam width. The combined wavelengths of light optimal for wound healing cannot be efficiently produced, and the size of wounds that may be treated by lasers is limited. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) offer an effective alternative to lasers. These diodes can be made to produce multiple wavelengths, and can be arranged in large, flat arrays allowing treatment of large wounds.

What? No Insurance for LED Light Therapy?

What’s this about infrared light therapy and dramatic recovery from chronic wounds and healing severely damaged tissues—has the medical community found something better than surgery?

Three highly-qualified RN’s have published their findings about the benefits of treatment that overcome the complications of severe tissue damage caused by underlying auto-immune disease, arthritis, unstable diabetes, or resistance to antibiotic therapies. (Wow!—it’s better than antibiotics?! I do NOT like taking medications if possible—and this is more beneficial, medically proven and validated, and…more affordable than repeated hospital or skilled facility placement?)
Now comes the hard part: who to believe—the insurance companies and which part of the government?

Well, it works for our fighting men in the military: this has already validated in a NASA News, Marshall Space Flight Center News Release 00-336 (12-18-00). Dr. Harry Whelan, commander and diving medical officer in the U.S. Navy reserve then assigned to Naval Special Warfare Command and a professor of pediatric neurology and director of hyperbaric medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has been working alongside doctors at Navy Special Warfare Command centers in Norfolk, VA, and San Diego, CA. They reported a 40 percent improvement in patients who had musculoskeletal training injuries treated with the light-emitting diodes. In the laboratory, Whelan and his team have shown that skin and muscle cells grown in cultures and exposed to the LED infrared light grow 150 to 200 percent faster than ground control cultures not stimulated by the light. Furthermore, a wound-healing device was placed on the USS Salt Lake City submarine, and doctors reported 50 percent faster healing of crewmember’s lacerations when exposed to the LED light. Injuries treated with the LEDs healed in seven days, while untreated injuries took 14 days.

And it helps children too: Dr. Whelan’s NASA-funded research has already seen remarkable results using the light-emitting diodes to promote healing of painful mouth ulcers caused by cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. The treatment is quick and painless. Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin recently completed the first-ever surgery with the improved probe and medicine. The drug also has fewer side effects after surgery. The ongoing brain surgery study is described in a 1999 peer-reviewed journal article in Pediatric Neurosurgery. “Some children who probably would have had to be fed intravenously because of the severe sores in their mouths have been able to eat solid food,” said Dr. David Margolis, an oncologist at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

So what’s the fuss? Aetna states on the Clinical Policy Bulletin Number 0604 that
{ treatment with low-level infrared light (infrared therapy, Anodyne Therapy System) experimental and investigational for the treatment of chronic non-healing wounds, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, lymphedema, neck pain, acne, osteoarthritis, ischemic stroke and all other indications (except for grade I and II internal hemorrhoids) because of a lack of adequate evidence in the peer-reviewed published medical literature regarding the effectiveness of infrared therapy for these indications.)
In other words, they can’t believe it’s possible and all results achieved are not to be believed, regardless of recovery and evidence.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services also has a blind eye:

• CMS has determined that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the use of Infrared devices is not reasonable and necessary for treatment of Medicare beneficiaries for diabetic and non-diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy, wounds and ulcers, and similar related conditions, including symptoms such as pain arising from these conditions. Therefore, we are issuing the following National Coverage Determination.
• The use of infrared and/or near-infrared light and/or heat, including monochromatic infrared energy (MIRE), is not covered for the treatment, including symptoms such as pain arising from these conditions, of diabetic and/or non-diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy, wounds and/or ulcers of skin and/or subcutaneous tissues in Medicare beneficiaries.

Great! I’m convinced more than ever that when (one part) of the government says No” and another part heavily involved in physical human resources (the military) says “Yes,” I’m inclined to think that progress comes through effort and application—and being open to new ideas. Insurance companies are another issue; just ask AIG. Well, that settles it: if it heals me if I am in physical need, whom do I believe: the results my doctor gets or a bureaucrat? Ship it!