ArticleLasers in medical science2021
Does low-level laser therapy affect the survival of patients with head and neck cancer?
Article in Lasers in medical science, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Photodynamic therapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: immunomodulation and stromal targeting of cancer-associated fibroblasts.Translational oncology · 2026Review
- 457 nm LED blue light inhibits oral squamous cell carcinoma cell proliferation via the PI3K/AKT pathway and autophagy.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2025Article
- Quality assessment of PBM protocols for oral complications in head and neck cancer patients: part 2.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Review
- Photobiomodulation in the management of oral mucositis for adult head and neck cancer patients receiving irradiation: the LiTEFORM RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is used in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) for treatment-related mucositis. There is conflicting evidence as to whether LLLT leads to the proliferation of tumor cells and whether it interferes with the tumoricidal effect of radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, if the tumor lies within the LLLT field. Using fuzzy matching, 126 HNC patients who had received LLLT including the tumor region and 126 matching HNC patients without LLLT (controls) treated at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Medical University of Innsbruck, were identified. The overall survival was compared using the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Fuzzy matching yielded 2 patient samples well comparable in terms of risk of death. The survival did not significantly differ between patients with and without LLLT (p = 0.18). An increased risk of death in HNC patients who received LLLT covering the tumor region was not observed in our study.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.