The Hypoglycemic Effect of Intravenous Laser Therapy in Diabetic Mellitus Type 2 Patients; A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses

Objectives: Intravenous Laser Blood Irradiation (ILBI) is applied in some countries for the treatment of different diseases including diabetes mellitus. But there is not any systematic review available in this field. The aim of this study is to review the articles on the effects of ILIB in diabetic type 2 patients systematically. Material and Methods: PubMed, SciELO, Science Direct and Google Scholar databases were searched for primary articles: The literature search was restricted to studies published in English and from the unrestricted past till April 2015. The keywords used were "Intravascular laser", "Intravenous laser", "low level laser", "low intensity laser", "phototherapy", "cold laser" combined with "fasting blood glucose", "blood sugar" and "blood glucose". Results: Seven potentially suitable articles were found and among them four articles met all inclusion criteria. All these 4 articles were included in the final meta-analysis. Comparing before and after laser therapy, showed a significant decrease in glucose level (mean difference =14.445, 95% CI: −1.12 to 30.031 P=0.007). There was not any significant heterogeneity between trials (P=0.158, I2=42.3%). Conclusion: ILIB is a safe and effective therapeutic modality for decreasing blood sugar level in diabetic type 2 patient.