Aerolase® System in treating burn/scar tissue
WorkSafeBC Evidence-Based Practice Group, Martin CW
Record ID 32018014860
English
Authors' objectives:
To determine the evidence on the efficacy/effectiveness of Aerolase® system in treating (burn) scar tissue.
Authors' results and conclusions:
Fifteen published studies were identified from Search #4, which was specific for Aerolase® devices. Upon examination of the titles and abstracts of these 15 studies, four studies were thought to be relevant and were retrieved in full for further appraisal. One hundred sixty-eight16-183 published studies were identified from Search #5, which was more general on the role Nd:YAG or Er:YAG laser in treating scar tissue and was limited to systematic review articles. Upon examination of the 168 published studies, we came across two Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews. Appreciating the high-quality systematic review that Cochrane reviews produced, we decided to include only these two Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews and adding two more recent reviews of the same topics with the Cochrane reviews. Hence, there were eight studies retrieved in full for further appraisal in this systematic review. Further appraisals on these eight studies that were retrieved in full, showed that two studies were not relevant to the objective of this systematic review and will not be discussed further. No further primary study was identified from manual searches. At present, there are some low level (small case series, level of evidence 4. Appendix 1) and of low-quality (potential selection bias and potential measurement bias) evidence on the efficacy of Aerolase® laser system in treating several skin conditions, including scar. At present, there are some high level and high-quality evidence on the uncertainty of the efficacy of laser treatment in treating scars and keloids. At present, there is some evidence on the heterogeneity of the primary studies reporting the efficacy of laser treatment on scars/keloids that may affect the outcomes.
Authors' methods:
A comprehensive and systematic literature search was conducted on February 5, 2025. In order to develop relevant keywords to conduct the literature search, we began our review by exploring the websites of the company (https://aerolase.com/). This website provides the information on the device involved (including device name, how the device works as well as the type of lasers involved) and the information we collected from here were then translated into keywords that we employed in our literature search. It should be noted that the websites provided some references, but we did not assess the information provided in here since we found that these articles were not necessarily associated with the specification of the Aerolase® system. The formal systematic literature search was conducted on commercial medical literature databases employing a combination of key words in this literature search. No limitation, such as on the language or date of publication was implemented in the initial search. However, on the expanded search we looked into the efficacy/effectiveness of Nd:YAG or Er:YAG laser in treating scar tissue, we limited our search to those of systematic review only. A manual search was done on the references of the articles that were retrieved in full.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
URL for project:
https://www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/research-services/evidence-based-medicine-and-systematic-reviews
Year Published:
2025
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Mini HTA
Country:
Canada
MeSH Terms
- Burns
- Wound Healing
- Lasers
- Keloid
- Laser Therapy
- Cicatrix
Keywords
- scar
- keloid
- aerolase
- light pod
- Nd:YAG
- Er:YAG
Contact
Organisation Name:
WorkSafeBC
Contact Address:
6591 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC, V7C 1C6 Canada. Tel: 604-231-8417; Fax: 604-279-7698
Contact Name:
ebpg@worksafebc.com
Contact Email:
ebpg@worksafebc.com
Copyright:
WorkSafe BC
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.