Laser therapy
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The assessment of the efficacy of low level laser therapy (LLLT) for pain attenuation varies among institutions, all having their own method of assessment with no common standards. At the author's institution in the beginning, the patients were asked how they assessed their pain relief immediately after the treatment. They were to choose from excellent, good, fair, no change and poor. ⋯ The new standard defined excellent as pain reduction in any treatment session from 10 to 0 or 1, good as reduction from 10 to 2∼5, fair as reduction from 10 to 6∼8, no change as a reduction from 10 to 9∼10 and poor was defined as exacerbation of pain from 10 to 11 or greater. Efficacy rate was calculated by the number of patients scoring excellent and good expressed as a percentage of the total number of patients. For the purpose of reference, the VAS was to be used for patients receiving the treatment for the first time.