Another topic raised by Alison Smith at our March meeting was Photobiomodulation. You might remember I posted an article about this a few weeks ago, and indicated that our CNS team are discussing plans to bring this therapy to Royal Stoke Hospital.
Just to recap, PBM is a light based therapy that aims to encourage the repair of cells in the head and neck area damaged by Radiotherapy. This intervention is aimed at reducing the long term effects of the treatment on swallowing and speech and it works by shining LED light beams onto the affected tissues. The treatment would be administered in clinic, and would typically take only minutes to perform. It is drug-free, painless and non-invasive, relying purely on the abilities of certain wavelengths of light to penetrate beyond the surface layer of skin and stimulate the repair and regeneration of cells lying beneath the surface.
Emma Hallam, Therapeutic Radiographer, has set up a clinic in Nottingham to offer this service to patients. It’s hoped that Emma will be able to collaborate with our CNS team at the Royal Stoke to help bring this therapy to our Hospitals.
