Does Low-Level Laser Therapy Have an Antianesthetic Effect? A Review

Abstract

Because local anesthetics are vasodilators, they tend to be absorbed into the bloodstream from the operative field as a result of the vasodilation of peripheral arterioles. To counteract this vasodilation, vasoconstrictive agents are often included in local anesthetic solutions to provide a longer duration of anesthesia. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has the same benefits, such as microcirculation activation and more-efficient tissue metabolism, analgesic effects, and vasodilatation. If LLLT is used to prevent pain postoperatively, improvements in local circulation and increased vasodilatation may increase the absorption of a local anesthetic agent. This may reduce the duration of the anesthesia, thereby allowing postoperative pain management to begin sooner. The maximal intensity of pain occurs during the first hours after surgery, when the local anesthetic has worn off. Theoretically, postoperative pain control can be increased with the use of a local anesthetic with a more-prolonged action. If a treatment method has both analgesic and antianesthetic effects, then the method may block its own effects. We review whether LLLT applied postoperatively to operated-on areas has an antianesthetic effect, that is, whether pain in the first hours after surgery was greater for patients who received LLLT than for control patients. Not too much evidence supports the antianesthetic effects of LLLT. However, additional experimental and clinical studies must be performed to investigate the effects of LLLT on the duration of anesthesia.