Recently, NASA has developed a grow lamp designed for the space shuttle that can ease a side effect of chemotherapy. The lamp uses a technology called High Emissivity Luminescent Substrate(Heals). It uses the same energy as a dozen suns to alleviate a condition called oral mucositis(mouth and throat sores). The WARP 75 provides this light energy from 288 LED chips. This is useful because the people who take chemo drugs often have mucositis, therefore disabling them from eating solid foods. Although it can be used to alleviate pain, HEALS was initially developed to grow plants for shuttle missions. It uses LEDs that emit long wavelengths of light to stimulate cells to grow and aid in healing. They emit photons but no heat. This technology was tested in a two-year double-blind trial on eighty cancer patients. Half of them were treated with HEALS while the other half were treated with the placebo device. Ultimately, the patients with the real HEALS treatment experienced less pain. NASA concluded that there was a 96% chance that the decreased pain was a result of the light therapy. The treatment has many benefits such as: better nutrition, decreased drug use, and increased morale. I think that this treatment for alleviating pain along with the other benefits could really help the millions of cancer patients, worldwide. Millions of lives would be helped. Treating cancer is a new field in science and this is one of the many breakthroughs that scientists will discover.Effects." Popular Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2011.
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