Clinical and experimental study of low energy helium-neon intravascular laser irradiation of blood in chronic schizophrenia (1998)

SUMMARY By means of a prospective randomized controlled study, the low energy helium-neon intravascular laser irradiation of blood (LEILIB) was tested in schizophrenic patients. A total of 66 patients were recruited, matched for the duration of illness, and randomly assigned to the two experimental groups (one received the LEILIB in addition to medications while the other received only the medications). An additional 25 healthy volunteers were recruited as a control group. Venous blood were tested for T-lymphocyte subpopulation. The results showed that LEILIB in conjunction with medication was better than medications alone. They also indicated that schizophrenic patients had low and abnormal T-lymphocyte levels. It was possible that LELIB therapy could enhance immune functions, and theoretically should have no side-effects. Key words: chronic schizophrenics, intravasuclar irradiation, T-lymphocytes, Chinese INTRODUCTION Low Energy Helium-Neon Intravascular Laser Irradiation of Shod (LEILIB) has been a new high-technical treatment method in recent years. Its essence is the direct irradiation of circulating blood by low energy He-Ne laser via an intravascularly applied light guide fiber optic device. According to the medical literature, the former USSR had used LEILIB in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, severe infection, bronchial asthma and even depression. This method vas firstly used in mainland China in November, 1991, and was employed for the first dime far schizophrenic patients in the Beijing Huilongguan Hospital in July, 1992 with some efficacy. The exact mechanism of this method has not been clearly known. Based on the research data, when low energy He-Ne laser directly irradiates the blood, it changes the molecular configuration of some proteins (enzymes and other proteins) which could cause the following biological effects, through some photochemical and photophysical mechanism. These were as follows) Changes the blood rhealogical properties, including a decrease in the blood viscosity, platelet and red blood cells clotting capacity, and decreased in red blood cells transformation properties; ii) Modulation of humoral and cellular immunity leading to improved body immune functions, especially in the T-lymphocytes. iii) Amelioration of the body intoxicated status by increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), decreases medium molecular substances and accumulation of other toxic substances. In 1992, a study was conducted in the Beijing Huilongguan Hospital to test the effectiveness of this therapy (Dong et al, 1992). 47 schizophrenic patients were divided into three groups: Group 1. an experimental group 10 cases who received only LEILIB; Group 2: a control group of 10 similar cases (matched for age, sex, course, subtypes of diagnosis and severity) who received only medications of a dose equivalent to 300-600 mg chlorpromazine per day; Group 3: 37 chronic schizophrenic refractory patients who received both LEILIB and medications. The results showed that. There was no statistical difference in the clinical outcome between Group 1 & 2, though in Group 1, the delusional symptoms disappeared faster. As for Group 3, 18.9% of the patient had an obvious improvement, while 29,7% had a turn for the better (thus making the total effective rate of 48.6%). Since then, the authors had treated a few hundred schizophrenic patients without any obvious adverse effects. It appeared that LEILIB has empirical effects on hallucination, delusions, anxiety and depression symptoms, but not much effect on negative symptoms. The present paper is the report of a prospective randomized clinical and experimental study about LEILIB treatment for chronic schizophrenic patients. METHODOLOGY SELECTION OF SUBJECTS The experimental groups From May, 1994 to April, 1995, all in-patients of the Beijing Huilongguan Hospital with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (DSM-III-R and OCMD-II criteria based on symptoms at interview and in the case records) were screened. …