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The current laser center team includes orthopedist David Florence, M.D., and neurosurgeon Charles Burton, M.D. "Medical lasers were fi rst used in surgery in 1962. The initial experimental study on low-intensity laser usage was performed in 1966 at the Semmelwies Hospital in Budapest. Today, more than 200 double-blinded studies demonstrate the therapeutic effectiveness of phototherapy, and 3,500 articles review phototherapy applications," he explains. "In 2009, The Lancet, a British medical journal, published a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled phototherapy to treat acute and chronic neck pain in a series of 820 patients. The review documented signifi cant relief of both acute and chronic pain. Of particular interest to me was the review's assessment that the side effects of phototherapy were no different than those of placebo." "Like many new technologies, the credibility of laser and superluminous diode treatment has suffered from overpromo- tion and misrepresentation," says Dr. Burton. "However, the dedicated efforts of pioneers such as Canadian physician Fred Kahn, [M.D.] Director of the Meditech Laser and Rehabilitation Centre and a specialist in pain control, have documented appropriate and safe uses for these therapies." Dr. Burton traveled to Toronto to meet with Dr. Kahn and observe his protocols for phototherapy, developed over 20 years of practice, to treat a variety of conditions — including spine and joint pain, arthritis, soft tissue injuries and derma- tological conditions — and promote wound healing. Dr. Kahn believes phototherapy jumpstarts the body's natural healing process by enhancing cellular regeneration in muscles and joints, decreasing swelling and accelerating healing time. It is also believed to trigger release of endorphins that inhibit the sensation of pain, and to increase cortisol and the formation of new blood vessels. At the Meditech clinics, close to 40% of patients treated with the protocols developed by Dr. Kahn suffer from back problems, including disc herniations and multilevel degenerative disc disease, often accompanied by radiculitis and/or stenosis. Under Dr. Kahn's phototherapy protocols, some patients obtain dramatic relief after two to three therapy sessions over a period of one week. Other patients required additional sessions, with protocols adjusted based on patient response. "Dr. Kahn's use of phototherapy has been fascinating to me," says Dr. Burton, who found Dr. Kahn's use of phototherapy to heal wounds particularly impressive. Dr. Burton observed Kahn's treatment of a 42-year-old athlete who had developed a spontaneous strep infection of his knee. The knee had become so swollen and impaired that amputation was being considered. Dr. Kahn treated the infection with a two-month regime of phototherapy treatments. "When I saw this patient, his knee was fi ne," Dr. Burton relates. "It had completely healed, and he was ready for discharge. It was astonishing." Dr. Burton returned to the Twin Cities and established the Sentinel Laser Center in Saint Paul to offer medically supervised phototherapy to treat spine and joint pain. MDNEWS.COM n MD NEWS Twin Cities | 7