Combined low power laser therapy and extracts of ginkgo biloba in a blind trial of treatment for tinnitus

Abstract

Tinnitus is an annoying and often debilitating condition of neuro-otologic origin but of uncertain aetiology. Many treatment methods have been tried, but to date none has been consistently successful. The present preliminary study presents a blind trial of laser therapy (c/w [HeNe 632.8 nm and pulsed GaAs 904 nm) combined with doses of an extract of Ginkgo biloba (50 mg) in two groups of 20 patients, one experimental and one control. All 40 patients received the biloba extract injection, but only the 20 experimental patients received real laser irradiation, 8 days, 8 min per day. The control group received sham irradiation in a blind arrangement. Fifty percent of the experimental group was assessed to have a reduction in tinnitus of more than 10 dB, compared with 5% in the control group in both self-assessment and audiometric findings. Although only a preliminary report, the results are very encouraging, and the authors suggest that this combined photochemotherapy is a promising treatment for tinnitus. © 1993, International Phototherapy Association. All rights reserved.