Efficacy of blue light laser treatment in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: a four years’ experience

Background Recurrent spontaneous epistaxis is the most common clinical manifestation and the most debilitating symptom in up to 95% of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) patients. In a previous Study, we have been able to show that the blue light laser is effective to treat telangiectasia, to stabilize the hemoglobin levels and to increase the quality of life in patients suffering from HHT in short treatment intervals. In the current study, we evaluated the long-term result of blue light laser technology in treating the endonasal manifestations of HHT in a retrospective chart analysis.

Methods This is a retrospective chart analysis of HHT patients having blue light laser treatment to control epistaxis. We investigated the hemoglobin levels, the quality of life (by visual analogue scale) and the severity of epistaxis (by epistaxis severity score).

Results 40 Patients with nasal manifestation of HHT under regular blue laser therapy were included in this study. Hemoglobin levels remained relatively unchanged during the study period. The Quality of life and the epistaxis severity score rapidly improved after first treatments and remained at a steady level under long-term.

Conclusion To our best knowledge, no data on the effects of long-term treatment of HHT patients by blue light laser exist to date. In this study, we have been able to show that the blue light laser is effective to stabilize the hemoglobin levels, to improve the severity of epistasis, and to increase the quality of life in patients suffering from HHT in long-time application. We did not observe any relevant side effects, in particular no infections and no nasal septal perforations.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 May 2023