Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) also known as “cold laser therapy” can accelerate thyroid
tissue regeneration, allowing up to 50% of Hashimoto’s patients to be medication free. While
most body organs are not accessible to laser therapy, the thyroid gland is close enough to
the skin surface so that the laser will be able to penetrate it. Additionally, this therapy is painless, non-invasive, low-cost, and carries a low risk, as it does not use ionizing radiation.
Researchers at the Thyroid Outpatient Clinic of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Departament at the Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil has studied the effects of low-level laser therapy on the thyroid gland in Hashimoto’s
thyroiditis and have reported the following:
• LLLT increases Transforming Growth Factor B (TGF-B), which is a cytokine that helps to
promote self-tolerance, thus reducing the body’s autoimmune response
• LLLT improves microcirculation in the thyroid gland
• LLLT increases T3 and T4 levels in animals
• Average levothyroxine dose dropped from 96 +/- 22 mcg/day, to 38 +/- 23 mcg/day
• TPO antibodies: reduction: 10/15, no change: 2/15 (no change), increase: 3/15
• TG antibodies: reduction: 8/15, no change: 5/15, increase: 2/15
• 43% of the people who had an abnormal thyroid volume saw that their thyroid size normalized. The remainder also saw an improvement towards normalization, reaching near
normal values. Thus this therapy may also be helpful for reducing goiter size
• 43 person study (2011): 95.7% of treatment group being able to reduce or stop medications, 47.8% no longer needing thyroid medications
• Normalization of thyroid volume (in 66%)
• Less infiltration of the thyroid gland on ultrasounds, echogenicity index on thyroid ultrasound was improved in 95% of the study group.
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