Vol 9, No 4 (2010)

This paper reports results of combined rehabilitative treatment of patients with gonarthrosis and coxarthrosis by hyperbaric gaseous cryotherapy. Evaluation of outcomes of the treatment using international Lequesne, WOMAC, and Likert indices provided a basis for the identification of predictors of responsiveness to hyperbaric gaseous cryotherapy. It was shown that this method allows the effectiveness of the rehabilitative treatment of patients with osteoarthrosis of large joints to be improved by 33%.

A total of 54 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) were enrolled in this study. The group included 25 (46.29%) women and 29 men (53.71%) at the age from 48 to 69 years. The patients were examined by a variety of methods including both clinical procedures (clinical analysis of blood and urine, ECG) and special ones (characteristic of carbohydrate metabolism, measurement of glycated hemoglobin level, rheovasography (RVG), determonation of body mass index (BMI), etc.). Combined treatment included phototherapy and application of sinusoidal modulated currents. Results of the study give evidence that supplementation of standard treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus with physiotherapeutic and phototherapeutic procedures significantly improves not only parameters of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism but also arterial pressure, reduces the body weight, and has positive effect on diabetic angiopathy due to normalization of vascular function in the lower extremities.

A total of 66 patients presenting with psoriasis were hospitalized for intravenous irradiation of the blood and allocated to two representative groups. Patients of group 1 (n = 39) were subjected to intravenous laser treatment of the blood (IVLTB), in group 2 (n = 27) they were managed using PUVA therapy. Comparative analysis revealed regression of the symptoms of psoriasis in both groups. IVLTB decreased pruritus after the fourth, oedema and skin exfoliation after the sixth sessions. PUVA-therapy produced similar effects after 8-10 and 14 procedures respectively. Moreover, PUVA-therapy accelerated elimination of psoriatic plaques (their size significantly decreased by the 14th procedure and practically disappeared by the 20th one) whereas IVLTB caused reduction of infiltration signs in all patients. Worthy of note is much more pronounced beneficial effect of IVLTB on the enhanced activity of indicator enzymes (AST and ALT), elevated glucose and total cholesterol levels compared with the action of PUVA-therapy. These effects were practically absent in patients showing normal values of these parameters. Investigation of skin microcirculation by laser Doppler flowmetry demonstrated substantial improvement of microhemodynamic characteristics in patients of group 1. Also, they showed significantly higher remission indices (19.4 months versus 13.5 months in the control group). It should be emphasized that relapses following IVLTB were milder and of more local character than after PUVA-therapy. Moreover, they were easier to correct by pharmacotherapy. Taken together, these observations may be useful for the development of a pathogenetically substantiated therapeutic strategy and the reduction of adverse effects of drug therapy used to treat psoriasis.

The present placebo-controlled study included 60 patients presenting with chronic urticaria. They were treated by standard methods in combination with phototherapy at a wavelength of 590 nm (yellow spectrum) or without it (control). It is concluded that introduction of phototherapy into combined treatment of chronic urticaria accelerates elimination of clinical symptoms of the disease and improves efficiency of its treatment.

Two groups of hospitalized patients with asthenodepressive syndrome of neurotic nature were examined. The patients of group 1 (n = 42) were managed by pharmacotherapy alone, those in group 2 (n = 41) by a combination of pharmaco- and phototherapy. The clinical and psychological status of the patients in both groups was evaluated based on the results of three studies with the use of different questionnaire (scales) carried out before and 20 days after the study. It was shown that inclusion of phototherapy with high-intensity light of the visible spectrum into combined treatment of asthenodepressive syndrome of neurotic nature significantly increases its efficiency and reduces the overall duration of therapy.

An overview of the literature concerning medical and social rehabilitation of patients with severe craniocerebral injury is presented. It highlights the pathophysiological and sanitary-hygienic aspects of the early treatment of traumatic brain disease. The role of photochromotherapy in the early rehabilitation of patients in this condition is considered.