A new frontier has just opened in the field of medical lasers: the treatment of both Alzheimer's and Parkinsons' with laser therapy.
A Swedish team of researchers, at Chalmers University, have published a study in which they found that the two most feared senile diseases could be cured by laser therapy.
Even more interestingly, the discovery points to use of lasers to aide in the treatment of mortal disease such as Creutzfeld-Jacob, and its variant, which is known to most as Mad Cow disease.
The way the laser technology would be employed is to target the amyloid plaques, or the 'clusters' of proteins that eventually destroy the brain cells and with it, disable or kill the patient.
The specific technique used would be multi-photon tecnique. More specifically, the therapy is called 'photo acoustic' technique, which identifies and eliminates the proteins. In theory, the removal of the proteins, especially if done in the early stages of the disease, should prevent the disease from worsening. What is truly astounding however, is that this technique is done without any invasive surgery.
The finding, if it stands up to its promise, could be a medical breakthrough. The brain disorders mentioned above are in increasing and escalating progress, with case numbers growing each year.
The reason why this technique is now a promising tool, is that until recently the amyloid protein were not 'visible', so to speak. But recent discoveries have allowed scientists to identify the protein in situ, so to speak, making them viable targets for the treatment.
Source : Science Daily/ 11.06.13
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