Lasers can help monitor burn wound healing

Researchers hit injured areas with a laser light of a particular wavelength and captured the emitted light in the range, generating a spectrum. For each region, multiple spectra are generated and averaged. This yields an image that correlates with collagen content reflective of the healthy repair. Based on this knowledge, scientists have proposed a simple technique to evaluate the progression of healing using a non-invasive, fast and an easy to use the tool.

“With LIF we evaluated collagen synthesis and the healing process in vivo without sacrificing the animal. The evaluation using this technique takes only 15-20 seconds and is a biopsy free or non-invasive approach,” explains Prof. Krishna K Mahato, who led the research team.

The preliminary studies on monitoring effectiveness of low power laser therapy (LPLT) in mice with burn wounds showed encouraging results. “LIF is sensitive and since it is an objective assessment, it doesn’t demand experienced operators and thus is user-friendly”, suggest researchers.

“We have promising results in tissue samples from burn patients and with further analyses and studies, we hope to have this tool routinely used for patients in near future,” Prof. Mahato told India Science Wire.

The research team included Bharath Rathnakar, Bola Sadashiva Satish Rao, Vijendra Prabhu, Subhash Chandra and Krishna Kishore Mahato. The results have published in journal Lasers in Medical Science. (The study has been first published in India Science Wire)