[Laser acupuncture therapy for pain and vague complaints in neurosurgery]

The value of diode laser acupuncture for pain and other vague neurological complaints has been studied in chronic patients of head trauma and of cerebrovascular disease or neuralgia in head and neck regions. Gallium-Aluminium-Arsenide (Ga-Al-As) diode laser pain attenuator PANALAS-4000 manufactured by Japan Medical Laser Laboratory was used in the following specifications; wave length: 830 nm, power: 20-40 mW, frequency: 5-50 c.p.s., pulse duty: 0.9. The laser acupuncture was applied to some of the representative Chinese meridian points, local pain points and related nerves for 1 to 7 times in a week. It was given in 310 patients in our neurosurgical department. 175 of 227 patients who complained of pain and 12 of 39 patients who complained of numbness showed improvement within 24 hours, another 24 patients with pain and 16 patients with numbness showed improvement after 24 hours. No side effect was noticed. The duration of the effectiveness was about 2 or 3 days. It is very useful to apply the laser acupuncture for pain and vague complaints in neurosurgery.