ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Treatment of cancers of the head and neck cause two primary side effects, dermatitis and mucositis, which impede treatment, recovery, and overall quality of life. Traditional remedies have limited efficacy, presenting NeoMedLight with an opportunity for its innovative fiber-optic fabric capable of delivering photobiomodulation therapy to a greater area of tissue than ever before.
The French city of Lyon is widely known as the silk-weaving capital of the world, but few would guess that it’s also home to a luminous solution for a common comorbidity of head and neck cancers. Patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy experience burns and immune system depression, resulting in painful inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth and upper digestive tract, or mucositis. Most radiotherapists treating this area report an 80-90% incidence rate of mucositis, with about half of those severe enough to impede eating, a situation that often forces treatment to pause and prolongs hospital stays. Many patients may also develop dermatitis or skin burns that impact their ability to rest and recover between therapy sessions.
