Moskvin, S. V., & Apolikhin, O. I. (2018). Effectiveness of low level laser therapy for treating male infertility. BioMedicine. https://doi.org/10.1051/bmdcn/2018080207
Moskvin SV, Apolikhin OI. Effectiveness of low level laser therapy for treating male infertility. BioMedicine. 2018. doi:10.1051/bmdcn/2018080207
Moskvin, Sergey Vladimirovich, and Oleg Ivanovich Apolikhin. "Effectiveness of low level laser therapy for treating male infertility." BioMedicine, 2018.
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RRM Academy Synopsis
Low level laser therapy improves sperm motility, a review finds
A 2018 narrative review by Russian authors concludes that low level laser therapy helps men with infertility by improving sperm motility and survival. The review draws on animal and laboratory work, clinical reports and patents. Several of its clinical examples involve men with chronic prostatitis.
Key Findings
The authors conclude that laser therapy benefits men with infertility and can significantly improve how long sperm live, how many move, and how fast they swim.
One cited report followed men with chronic prostatitis and infertility through a laser course. After 12 months of clinical use, 67.5% of couples were pregnant.
With intravenous laser light, pregnancy occurred in 25 (62.5%) couples within one year, among men aged 22 to 40 with strong or medium sexual constitution and prostatitis of 5 years or less.
For unexplained infertility, local laser therapy raised sperm motility from 19% to 34%. In varicocele monotherapy, active-mobile forms of spermatozoa rose from 25% to 37%.
Experimental studies come mostly from authors outside Russia. Clinical studies on this topic come almost exclusively from Russian scientists.
Interpretation
The paper is a narrative literature review. It summarizes animal studies, laboratory work on sperm, clinical reports and nine patents. The pregnancy and sperm figures come from the reports the review cites. The authors state that experimental conditions differed and that laser settings were poorly described, which limits judging reliability and reproducibility. The review concerns male infertility only. The authors name female fertility as a later question.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine evaluates both partners and seeks the cause. The review says male disorders account for half of couple infertility. Its leading causes are infections, immune problems, testicular and prostate disease, and hormone disorders. The clinical reports the review gathers support larger studies of laser therapy for these conditions.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
In half of the cases, the infertility of the couple is due to the disorder of the male fertility. The leading factors that cause male infertility are urogenital infections, disorders of the immune system, testicular and prostate pathology, as well as endocrine disorders. Low level laser therapy (LLLT) is a very effective physical therapy method, used in many areas of medicine, including obstetrics and gynaecology, andrology and urology; and it is recommended as an integral part of the complex treatment of infertility. The literature review showed that LLLT is beneficial in treating male infertility. Laser can significantly improve the survival, motility and speed of movement of spermatozoa. Laser therapy of patients with prostatitis and vesiculitis can eliminate infiltrative-exudative changes, improve reproductive and copulatory functions. Local illumination of red (635 nm) and infrared (904 nm) spectra should be combined with intravenous laser blood illumination (ILBI) of red (635 nm) and ultraviolet (UV) (365 nm) spectra.
