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Interesting possibilities in the future with lasers? Maybe. Hopefully.

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Posted 12/23/2015 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
Stumbled on to this. Don't know what the newest is on this, as this is from back in 2000, so maybe it has not worked out. But this surgeon at Brigham's and Women's(Harvard) certainly was getting some impressive results.

I was searching for this because I had suffered with ever worsening Planta Fasciitis for 20 years. I had spent many hundreds out of pocket for different sets of custom orthotics, even steroid shots to my feet. Traveled 400 miles to a highly recommended foot surgeon(who had done wonders for my buddie with an insert who had a different problem: Norton's Neuroma) who put a cast/mold on my feet, made the orthotics from that, and bought the exact boots for hiking that they said fit my feet best. Had even started sleeping in what amounted to ski boots to keep my foot from dropping. This last- though miserable to sleep in- did significant improve my limp when I got up the next morning, but I still could not hike any distance, or walk far around the neighborhood. And of course stretching, etc etc etc. All of this different stuff over 20 years sometimes helped for a while, but never long enough and it was continuing to get worse overall as the years went on.

The one day I noticed my Chiropractor( please don't start in trashing them, I know what has helped for me and others I know) was using something called "cold laser" for various pains and injury. And several folks I knew gave me a good report on their results. So I asked him if we could try it on my feet, he said sure. No extra cost to me, just part of my maintenance plan. It was 3 minutes on each foot a couple of times a week, he thought it would take a total of about 6 treatments. I was shocked when I maybe imagined it felt a little better after 1 treatment. But after 6 treatments, I was much better but still sore(I had stopped sleeping in the ski boots). So I ended up with maybe 9 or 10 treatments total over several weeks. Zero pain for several years now, even hiking off trail with a pack. Recently, I told a friend(who went to this Chiro also) with the same problem about my experience. He asked for the same treatment. I asked him the other day: no more problems with PF. So that is a study of 2 with excellent results with both. Yes, tiny numbers, but I don't care: good enough for me.

So, I was searching around online on the general subject of lasers for various health issues, and I came upon this:
news.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/03.09/lung.html

Maybe some of Y'all will find this interesting. It was 15 years ago, if I find something newer I will post it. Admittedly it had not been used for PC yet, but who knows after 15 years? Plus, some of us with PC come down with other cancers, so............
Posted 12/23/2015 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
And there was this, a little newer:
www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html

Somebody said...
"Using this technology as a healing agent was phenomenal," said Dr. Donna Salzman, clinical trial principal investigator and director of clinical services and education at the Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. "The HEALS device was well tolerated with no adverse affects to our bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients........................The clinical trial was funded by NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. It included 20 cancer patients from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and 60 cancer patients from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital and the Children's Hospital of Alabama, also in Birmingham. The trial was the brainchild of Brian Hodgson, DDS, a pediatric dentist at Marquette University and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin – both in Milwaukee, Wis. Dr. Harry T. Whelan, Bleser Professor of Neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, served as the clinical trial principal investigator at Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Patients participated in the multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled research study – a way of testing a medical therapy where some groups receive treatment and others receive a placebo treatment that is designed to have no real effect. "

And this, once again some very lucky mice:
www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/targeted-light-therapy-destroys-cancer-cells

Somebody said...
The researchers found that the mAb-IR700 complexes effectively attached to cultured cancer cells. When exposed to near-infrared light, the targeted cells rapidly died. In contrast, cells that weren't bound by the complexes were unharmed.

Mice with cancer were injected with the mAb-IR700 that targets EGFR. The animals showed dramatic tumor shrinkage after even a single dose of near-infrared light. The treatment appeared to be safe, with no signs of toxicity.



It will be very interesting to see from whence help will come in the future.

Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 12/22/2015 7:27:49 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/23/2015 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
I had this done by cryosurgery. Below is the link when my doctor did it by laser.

www3.uch.edu/uchinsider/laser prostate surgery.pdf

Post Edited (Ziggy9) : 12/23/2015 7:48:34 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/23/2015 3:23 PM (GMT 0)

Ziggy9 said...
I had this done by cryosurgery. Below is the link when my doctor did it by laser.

www3.uch.edu/uchinsider/laser prostate surgery.pdf

Thx, Ziggy9! I knew you had a rarely used treatment with superb results, but I had never realized it involved a laser. Good news! (EDIT: OK, I see now that this doc did yours by cryo, but has now been doing a similar process using lasers now. This may have great promise)

Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 12/23/2015 8:34:07 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/24/2015 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
I was #57 in the TFT clinical trial. He's done over 700 now. I'm not sure how many by laser. the majority were cryo. So as successful a treatment was mine I asked why this isn't a more available option. His answers sums up the sorry state of US Healthcare. "There's not enough money in it."
Posted 12/26/2015 4:00 AM (GMT 0)

Ziggy9 said...
I was #57 in the TFT clinical trial. He's done over 700 now. I'm not sure how many by laser. the majority were cryo. So as successful a treatment was mine I asked why this isn't a more available option. His answers sums up the sorry state of US Healthcare. "There's not enough money in it."

Well, lots of money to do a procedure can certainly be a big incentive for both docs and hospitals. I wonder why there is not much reimbursement for going cryo or laser?
Posted 12/27/2015 2:32 AM (GMT 0)
It's too simple. No million dollar machines are used or needed. It just uses a brachytherapy grid to locate and later treat with. The only thing my insurance company initially balked at was the 3D saturation biopsies need and cost. Never the actual treatment. Maybe with a laser instead of argon tipped ice balls will raise the cost enough to make it a worthwhile (profitable) treatment.
Posted 12/27/2015 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
I'm interested in the historic arc of cryotherapy for PC. My dad had his primary treatment by cryo in the early 90's at the Cleveland Clinic, and had good results. As I recall, he had a second cryo 'surgery' about a year after the first one. After the second, his immune system 'ate' his prostate and it completely vanished. Unfortunately, the PC metastasized and he was on HT for a number of years, and finally he developed mets in his spine and died in 2004.

I thought it was pretty much out of favor now, rarely used. Does anyone know why (other than profit margins)? It's been my understanding that even though it showed early promise, the long term results just weren't all that great overall.
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