[Low-level laser therapy in oncology - what's new? Analysis of 2018-2021 publications]

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is included in the Federal project «Fight against oncological diseases», which provides for equipping all specialized medical institutions in Russia with the appropriate devices until 2026.

Publications analysis on the use of LLLT in oncology.

To search for publications, databases and libraries were used: PubMed, Scopus, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, J-STAGE, eLibrary.ru for the period 2018-2021. For analysis, publications were selected that are of interest from the point of view of improving the methodology of LLLT, the prospects for the development of this method in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of patients. A total of 223 publications were found, including 39 reviews and meta-analyses, mostly in English (165) and Portuguese (41).

The inclusion of LLLT in the ISOO/MASCC/ASCO recommendations for the treatment of complications such as mucositis, salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia caused by non-surgical methods of treating cancer patients should be considered as a promising trend. An extremely low level of quality of LLLT techniques was noted, most often the replacement with meaningless «doses», «fluences» instead of the necessary parameters: wavelength, operating mode, power, frequency, exposure, etc. The use of only local illumination instead of systemic methods of LLLT does not allow obtaining the best results of treatment and prevention. Eliminating the shortcomings of treatment protocols with a focus on Russian experience, when laser blood illumination (intravenously or externally) and laser acupuncture are also necessarily carried out with local illumination of the lesion, will bring the effectiveness of LLLT to a qualitatively new, higher level.