NASA Space
Technology Shines Light on Healing
Doctors at the Medical
College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have discovered the healing power of
light with the help of technology developed for NASA's Space Shuttle.
Using powerful light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, originally designed for
commercial plant growth research in space, scientists have found a way
to help patients here on Earth.
Doctors are examining how
this special lighting technology helps hard-to-heal wounds, such as
diabetic skin ulcers, serious burns, and severe oral sores caused by
chemotherapy and radiation. The project includes laboratory and human
trials, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and funded
by a NASA Small Business Innovation Research contract through the
Technology Transfer Department at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala.
"So far, what we've
seen in patients and what we've seen in laboratory cell cultures, all
point to one conclusion," said Dr. Harry Whelan, professor of
pediatric neurology and director of hyperbaric medicine at the Medical
College of Wisconsin. "The near-infrared light emitted by these
LEDs seems to be perfect for increasing energy inside cells. This
means whether you're on Earth in a hospital, working in a submarine
under the sea or on your way to Mars inside a spaceship, the LEDs
boost energy to the cells and accelerate healing."
Dr. Whelan’s findings
will be summarized in upcoming issues of Space Technology and
Applications International Forum 2001 and in The Journal of Clinical
Laser Medicine and Surgery. Other related peer-reviewed journals have
published articles on Whelan’s medical research with light-emitting
diodes.
Dr. Whelan's NASA-funded
research has already seen remarkable results using the light-emitting
diodes to promote healing of painful mouth ulcers caused by cancer
therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. The treatment is quick
and painless.
The wound-healing device
is a small, 3.5-inch by 4.5-inch (89-millimeter by 114-millimeter),
portable flat array of LEDs, arranged in rows on the top of a small
box. A nurse practitioner places the box of LEDs on the outside of the
patient's cheek about one minute each day. The red light penetrates to
the inside of the mouth, where it seems to promote wound healing and
prevent further sores in the patient's mouth.
"Some children who
probably would have had to be fed intravenously because of the severe
sores in their mouths have been able to eat solid food, " said
Dr. David Margolis, an oncologist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
in Milwaukee and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical
College of Wisconsin. Margolis, whose pediatric cancer patients are
participating in the study, explained that, "Preventing oral
mucositis improves the patients' ability to eat and drink and also may
reduce the risk of infections in patients with compromised immune
systems."
Dr. Whelan's
collaboration with NASA began when Ronald Ignatius, owner of Quantum
Devices Inc. in Barneveld, Wis., learned about Dr. Whelan's brain
cancer surgery technique using drugs stimulated by laser lights.
Laser-light surgical probes are costly and cumbersome in the operating
room because they are heavy, with refrigerator-size optical,
electrical and cooling systems.
Ignatius originally
designed the lights for plant growth experiments through the Wisconsin
Center for Space Automation and Robotics, a NASA commercial space
center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
"The LEDs needed to
grow plants in space produced the same wavelengths of light the doctor
needed to remove brain tumors," said Ignatius. "Plus, when
we developed the LEDs for NASA, they had to be lightweight to fly
aboard the shuttle and have small cooling systems. These traits make
the LED surgery probes easier to use in the operating room and
thousands of dollars cheaper than laser systems."
Quantum Devices altered
the surgical probe to emit longer wavelengths of red light that
stimulate a photodynamic drug called Benzoporphyrin Derivativeä .
Doctors at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin recently completed the
first-ever surgery with the improved probe and medicine. The drug also
has fewer side effects after surgery. The ongoing brain surgery study
is described in a 1999 peer-reviewed journal article in Pediatric
Neurosurgery.
"At NASA, we work
with companies like Quantum Devices to take technologies developed for
use in space and bring the benefits back home to Earth," said
Helen Stinson of Marshall’s Technology Transfer Department.
"NASA is proud to support a program that helps children with
brain cancer -- and promises to help even greater numbers of people
with technology to accelerate the healing process."
In the laboratory, Whelan
and his team have shown that skin and muscle cells grown in cultures
and exposed to the LED infrared light grow 150 to 200 percent faster
than ground control cultures not stimulated by the light. Scientists
are trying to learn how cells convert light into energy, and identify
which wavelengths of light are most effective at stimulating growth in
different kinds of cells.
To expand the wound
healing study, Whelan -- a commander and diving medical officer in the
U.S. Navy reserve assigned to Naval Special Warfare Command (Naval
Special Warfare Group TWO) -- is working with doctors at Navy Special
Warfare Command centers in Norfolk, Va., and San Diego, Calif. They
reported a 40 percent improvement in patients who had musculoskeletal
training injuries treated with the light-emitting diodes.
A wound-healing device
was placed on the USS Salt Lake City submarine and other subs
belonging to Submarine Squadron ELEVEN, where doctors are currently
studying the effects of LED light on crewmembers’ injuries in the
unique submarine environment.
The LED research project
will continue for the next 18 months, with doctors studying 100
patients at two major teaching affiliates of the Medical College of
Wisconsin. Researchers will continue to examine the influence of LEDs
on cells grown in the laboratory, and will explore the benefits that
LEDs might provide to counteract possible cell damage caused by
exposure to harmful radiation and weightlessness during long space
missions.
