Blood irradiation therapy

Blood irradiation therapy is a procedure in which the blood is exposed to low level red light (often laser light) for therapeutic reasons. Most research on blood irradiation therapy has been conducted in Germany, (by UV lamps), and in Russia (in all variants) while smaller-scale research has been performed in other countries such as Britain.

Blood irradiation therapy can be administered in three ways. Extracorporeally, drawing blood out and irradiating it in a special cuvette. This method is used for the ultraviolet (UV) blood irradiation (UVBI) by UV lamps. The laser light is monochromatic, i.e. it has such a wavelength that allows you to bring light into the optical fiber and carry out irradiation intravenously through a catheter in a vein. This method is more simple and effective. Blood irradiation therapy is also administered externally through the skin on the projection of large blood vessels.

It is not related to the practice of gamma irradiation of blood in transfusion medicine.

Historically, German doctors were the first to irradiate blood by UV lamps in the 1920s, and UVBI is widely spread in Germany so far. In the USA, this technique was best known during the Second World War. Intravenous laser blood irradiation (a more effective and modern variant) was developed experimentally by the Russian researchers, Meshalkin and Sergievskiy, and introduced into clinical practice in 1981. Originally the method was applied in the treatment of cardiovascular abnormalities. but it is now used in the treatment of a wide range of diseases.

Intravenous or intravascular laser blood irradiation (ILBI)involves the in-vivo illumination of the blood by feeding low level laser light generated by a 1–3 mW helium–neon laser at a wavelength of 632.8 nm into a vascular channel, usually a vein in the forearm, under the assumption that any therapeutic effect will be circulated through the circulatory system. Most often wavelengths of 365, 405, 525 and 635 nm and power of 2.3 mW are used. The technique is widely used at present in Russia, less in Asia, and not extensively in other parts of the world. It is shown that ILBI improves blood flow and its transport activities, therefore, tissue trophism, has a positive effect on the immune system and cell metabolism. This issue is subject to skepticism, but only in the part of the researchers, who are not acquainted with scientific publications on the topic, the vast majority of which are in Russian. There have been some calls to increase research on this topic.

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