الفهرس 
Cover EnglishOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 128 |  |  |
| | | from | 128 | | |
Abstract
Allergic rhinitis is considered as a very important disorder as it is one of the most common allergic diseases. Unfortunately untreated disease not only has negative effect on quality of life but it is also associated with or may contribute to serious sequalea including asthma, sinusitis, and otitis media. Current therapeutic options are far from ideal as many patients do not desire to take any medication or this medication may be contraindicated or have negative effect on their life.The goal of our study was to improve the patient’s well being and to assess and prove the beneficial effects of intranasal LED phototherapy and low-level laser acupuncture in treatment of allergic rhinitis and comparing its effect with conventional medication.Sixty patients were enrolled in our present study and it was performed at the National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES)-Cairo University. Patients were divided into three groups; each group consists of 20 patients. The first group received intranasal LED phototherapy at 660nm, the second group was subjected to low- level laser acupuncture applied to acupoints, and the third group (control group) was receiving oral H1 antihistamine and intranasal corticosteroid. Each patient was examined by nasal endoscopy, measuring IgE level was performed before, six weeks after treatment and three months after treatment as short term follow up. In addition, each patient had a special sheet recording symptoms and severity before and after treatment. All groups were submitted to treatment for 6 weeks and follow up for 1 year. During that period none of the patients of LED or laser acupuncture exhibited adverse events and they showed continuous significant improvement in symptom severity score (rhinorrhea, sneezing, nasal itching and nasal obstruction) throughout the short term (3 months) and long term (1 year) follow up period. They also showed persistent reduction of serum IgE and inferior turbinate size 3 months after therapy. Our results were comparable with previous studies in literature showing that phototherapy (Red, infrared, LED or low-level laser acupuncture) was good optional treatment in control of allergic rhinitis either alone or as complementary treatment.The difference between the LED phototherapy and low- level acupuncture groups was not marked, but LED phototherapy had profound and long lasting improvement effects on rhinitis symptoms than low-level acupuncture. Otherwise, either LED phototherapy or low-level laser acupuncture was still had more apparent or continuous effect throughout the follow up period than medical treatment in allergic rhinitis patients.Our data suggest that phototherapy or low-level laser acupuncture might be an effective, safe, and a novel treatment modality of allergic rhinitis either by itself or in combination with other modes of treatment. Although further, more detailed follow up and comparisons with conventional therapy are needed.