Abstract
Dear Editor:
We thank Dr. Lubart for her interest in our article entitled “The Use of 808-nm Light Therapy to Treat Experimental Chronic Osteomyelitis Induced in Rats by Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus,” which was published in Photomedicine and Laser Surgery. 1 Lubart said that irradiation of bacteria in vitro at 780 or 830 nm, using near-infrared (IR) diode lasers, did not result in their inactivation 2 and she did not believe in the healing effect of the bactericidal effect on S. aureus of an 808-nm diode. However, a number of in vitro studies on various bacteria by Pirnat et al. 3 , Schoop et al., 4 and Lee et al. 5 (wavelengths of 808, 810, and 810 nm, respectively) and an in vivo study by Moritz et al. 6 (wavelength 810 nm) have shown that near-IR diode laser has a bactericidal effect.
We designed this research because we had found no studies using laser alone in the treatment of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)-associated osteomyelitis in our review of the literature. As in previous studies regarding chronic osteomyelitis, 7 –9 we also investigated bacteria number, inflammation severity score, and radiographic changes in order to evaluate treatment efficacy. Our microbiological results showed that near-IR diode laser reduced bacteria numbers, whereas the histopathological results showed an anti-inflammatory effect. However, it was beyond the scope of our study to determine how these effects came about. On the basis of the results from the studies cited previously, 3 –6 and on our own study, we think that near-IR diode laser has a bactericidal effect. In addition, as Lubart states, immune system regularization or other mechanisms may also have played a role in the treatment of osteomyelitis.
We believe that detailed in vivo or in vitro studies will make a significant contribution to understanding the effect of laser in the treatment of increasingly difficult to treat infections such as MRSA-associated osteomyelitis, and determining the optimal treatment thereof.