PARIS, December 1 /PRNewswire/ --

- A Multi-Center Clinical Study Started in 2007 Confirms That the Results of Physiological Scarring After Surgery can be Improved by Using the LASH(R) (Laser Assisted Skin Healing) Treatment. This New Therapeutic Approach is Based on the EkkyLite(TM) System and is the First Device to Improve Scarring. it has been Developed and is Sold by Ekkyo.

Ekkyo, a company specialized in photomedicine and dedicated to developing new systems to promote proper scarring, announced today the publication of new clinical results from a multi-center study started in 2007.

This clinical study has enabled validating the optimal dose, effectiveness and safety of the LASH(R) (Laser Assisted Skin Healing) treatment.

The study concerns 30 patients with phototypes I to IV on the Fitzpatrick scale who underwent surgery for abdominal repair. Each surgical incision was divided into two parts: one measuring 8 cm, which was treated once with a 810-nm diode laser right after the incision closure, and another, which was untreated. The treatment dose for each patient was between 80 and 130 J/cmsquared, depending on the patient's phototype.

After 12 months, the patient (p=0.008) and the surgeon (p=0.02) were more satisfied with the scar that had received laser treatment (results based on an overall evaluation of the scar). The average improvement estimated by patients and surgeons was, respectively, 60 % and 72.73% (comparative results based on an analog visual scale).

Silicone casts of the scars enabled precisely measuring the evolution of the profile of treated scars. Thus, results of 3D profile measurement showed that treated areas were on average 38.1% thinner than untreated areas.

In 77% of cases, an improvement of the area treated with EkkyLite(TM) was observed. No scarring complications were recorded (hypertrophic, keloid, enlarged or atrophied scarring).

Applied at the beginning of the inflammatory phase when the healing process begins, the laser heats the skin up to around 50 degreesC. This controlled, localized thermal stress stimulates and modulates the tissue repair and regeneration process. The scar tissue structure is modified, leading to a reduction in fibrous formation and residual scarring. Thanks to it, the scar is not only more flexible and smoother, but also less visible.

"Abdominal repair is a surgical procedure that often generates unsightly scars which affect the patient's quality of life and minimize the benefits of the operation. The results of this study validate the safety and effectiveness of this new treatment for a very difficult application," comments A. Capon, MD, PhD., surgeon at Lille University Hospital Center and the leading researcher in this study. "This trial opens the way to the treatment of patients with hypertrophied and keloid scars, which are very disabling and are difficult to predict. So far, there has been no treatment with recognized effectiveness."

"Barely thirteen months after its commercial launch, EkkyLite(TM) has been doubly validated. First, there is a clinical validation by the results of this study. Second, there is a commercial validation, because the twelve centers in France and the eight in foreign countries equipped with this material (through a distribution network) have given their professional support to our first system of promoting proper scarring in spite of a difficult economic context," adds Alain Cornil, CEO of Ekkyo. He continues: "This double encouragement stimulates us to accelerate our commercial and clinical development by expanding application to other fields that can benefit from our innovation."

About Ekkyo

Created in 2006, Ekkyo is a photomedicine company that develops and markets first-in-class scar-healing devices to reduce scarring and improve post-surgical comfort.

The first laser assisted skin healing system and the first product marketed by the company, EkkyLite(TM) assists the surgeon right after the critical moment of wound closure, at the early stage of the skin-healing process. By applying a precisely controlled heat stress early in the inflammatory phase of the skin healing process, EkkyLite(TM) makes possible to stimulate and accurately control the balance between skin repair and regeneration. Results confirm the benefits of this LASH(R) (Laser Assisted Skin Healing) technology: enhanced healing with a significantly reduced scar thus repaired tissue is similar to normal skin in its structure.

By this new approach Ekkyo's ambition is to make laser technology available to all, to surgeons first and tomorrow to all doctors facing skin healing issues, and so to contribute to improve the comfort of the intervention and the quality of life of the 70 million patients who are confronted every year to problems of skin healing.

Based in Aix-en-Provence, France, Ekkyo had 20 employees by November 2009.

More on http://www.ekkyo.com

SOURCE Ekkyo

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