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Review
. 2023 Feb 14;13(4):667.
doi: 10.3390/ani13040667.

A Systematic Literature Review of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine: Laser Therapy

Darryl L Millis  1 , Anna Bergh  2
Affiliations
Review

A Systematic Literature Review of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine: Laser Therapy

Darryl L Millis et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Light therapy, or photobiomodulation, is a collective name for methods where tissue is irradiated with different types of light, with the aim of stimulating healing. Despite being frequently used, there is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment protocols for light therapy, nor its clinical efficacy. A systematic literature review was conducted, searching the relevant literature regarding light therapy in three databases, published between 1980-2020. The risk of bias in each article was evaluated. Forty-five articles met the inclusion criteria; 24 articles were regarding dogs, 1 was regarding cats, and the rest were regarding horses. The indications for treatment were musculoskeletal and neurologic conditions, skin disease and wounds, and pain. The literature review showed conflicting study results and unclear application for clinical use. This can be explained by the wide variety of treatment parameters used in the searched studies, such as wavelength, laser class, dose, and effect, as well as the frequency and duration of treatment. Although some beneficial effects were reported for light therapy, the studies also had limited scientific quality regarding these therapies, with a high or moderate risk of bias.

Keywords: cold laser; laser therapy; light therapy; low level laser; photobiomodulation; therapeutic laser.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the stages of the selection process used for identification of studies eligible for final analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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