Press release from LaserAnnals (www.laserannals.com)

The best Low Level Laser scientific paper of 2014 – a new award

Scientific rigor is the only viable method to further promote the acceptance of Low Level Laser Therapy. Therefore, LaserAnnals has initiated a new annual award, to be given to the authors of the best scientific paper of the year. There is yet another award – the award for the poorest paper. The candidates for the best papers were many and sadly enough so were the candidates for the poorest.

The Best Laser Phototherapy Study of 2014

We congratulate the following authors: Arany P R, Cho A, Hunt T D, Sidhu G, Shin K, Hahm E, Huang G X, Weaver J, Chen AC, Padwa B L, Hamblin M R, Barcellos-Hoff M H, Kulkarni A B, J Mooney D for their excellent paper named: Photoactivation of Endogenous Latent Transforming Growth Factor-beta1 Directs Dental Stem Cell Differentiation for Regeneration. Sci Transl Med. 2014; 28 6 (238): 238ra69.

This extensive study has shown that infrared laser light can induce the formation of tertiary dentin; that is to generate a hard tissue structure to protect an exposed dental pulp. Such an effect of LPT was demonstrated already in 1988 and confirmed by larger studies in 2005 and 2006. What these papers have taught us is that there is indeed an effect, but the value of the Award Winning paper is that is has confirmed a cascade of events leading to the effect. Thus, the paper does not only confirm that there is an effect, but further to that it reveals the mechanism behind the effect. Apart from the scientific achievement, the team of researchers have managed to promote their findings in the international press, and thereby have contributed to drawing more attention to the potential of laser phototherapy.

The following universities are honored by this award:

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, USA.

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Boston, USA.

Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, USA

Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine, Boston, USA.

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Bethesda, USA.

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Bethesda, USA.

Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Mass. General Hospital, Boston, USA.

Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, USA.

Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, USA.

New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA.

And award will be issued to the first author of the article.

The 2014 Laser Annals Award for the poorest Laser Phototherapy study of the year is won by the following team:

Jerrold S. Petrofsky, Wendy Chung, Lesley De Fazio, Holly Harris, Michael Laymon, Haneul Lee for their study: The effects of low-level laser therapy in patients with wrist pain: is this Mickey Mouse science? Phys Ther Rehabil Sci. 2287-7576, 2014, 3 (1), 1-6.

The authors claim to have tested four laser wavelengths to see whether or not laser light has any effect on wrist pain. As a placebo light source a flash lamp from Disneyland was used (“a Mickey Mouse lamp”). The outcome was negative, and the best effect was seen from the Mickey Mouse flash lamp. This is an extraordinary claim, and such claims require extraordinary evidence. So what is the extraordinary evidence? There is none, since the authors have entered a field where they, in spite of their medical and scientific competence, are amateurs.

First of all, the four lasers are not all lasers; three of the light sources are LEDs. Secondly, there is no reporting of any parameter such as energy, energy density, power density and spot size. Only the actual laser (808 nm) is likely to produce an effect – provided the parameters are reasonable and accounted for. Red light is not suitable for the indication, laser or no laser. And the blue and ultraviolet “lasers” are unknown in this field and do not have the penetrating ability to produce any effect on pain.

The Award is presented to the investigators not only because they have published a Mickey Mouse scientific study but because they have, through their pompous presentation, harmed a promising treatment of wrist pain. The editor of the journal has not answered to a request for publishing a Letter to the editor. A detailed criticism of this study can be found in LaserAnnals issue 2014/4.

The following universities are honored by this award:

Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA

Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA, USA

Touro University, Henderson, NV, USA

The award and notification will be transferred by thought transference.