what is photobiomodulation which helps to fight against the side effects of treatments?

Anthony is used to photobiomodulation. Treated for cancer of the tongue and gums, he inserts two tabs into his mouth, connected to a machine, “one on the tongue, the other against the wall”, he specifies. The painless treatment only lasts a few minutes. There is no noise or heat. The machine simply sends a red light into the patient’s mouth.

>> Health: could weightlessness help fight cancer?

The strips that Anthony puts in his mouth “have optical fiber in it, it’s like a fabric”describes Dr. Camélia Billard-Sandu, head of photobiomodulation (PBM) at the Gustave-Roussy Institute in Villejuif, in Val-de-Marne.

“It’s red light at 630 nanometers, which has the role of healing and regenerating tissues.”

Dr Camélia Billard-Sandu, Head of PBM at Gustave Roussy

at franceinfo

The objective is concrete: to regenerate and heal Anthony’s tongue, part of which the doctors had to cut. “My tongue doesn’t really heal. It burns me all the time, I can’t eat salt, peppers, stuff like that,” he specifies. Her salivary glands also had to be removed. As a result, he lived six years without saliva in his mouth. “Everything is stuck together and it hurts a lot in the morning. Everything is really dry”, he adds. Doctor Camélia Billard-Sandu had almost given up all hope and was going to stop the treatment when one day, during a session, “The saliva started to flow. It was weird to find her. Today, I’m happy”concludes Anthony with a smile.

“Recover a normal life”

Healing burns caused by radiotherapy treatments, reducing tingling, tingling in the hands and feet caused by chemotherapy, this is the whole point of this experiment carried out for two years. “We have more and more patients who survive their cancer, but they live poorly, with sequelaeexplains Camélia Billard-Sandu. What we want is also to improve their daily lives and reduce these after-effects so that they can recover a normal life. And this low-energy laser and LED therapy effectively reduces them.

>> SURVEY. Sexuality of women after menopause or cancer: a taboo when treatments exist

In France, four million people have had cancer and some still suffer, no longer from the disease, but from the side effects linked to the treatments. The Gustave-Roussy Institute has therefore just acquired a fourth photobiomodulation machine. One of the objectives is also to treat patients at the same time as their care, in order, quite simply, to prevent the appearance of side effects.