Phototherapy is a very effective method for treating most of the incurable skin diseases. A fluorescent light bulb is used as a conventional UV light source for this type of therapy. However, infrared radiation from the light source sometimes causes serious problems on patient's health. In addition, the normal part of the skin is irradiated when a large fluorescent light bulb is used. Moreover, a conventional UV irradiation system is heavy and has a short lifetime and a high electrical power consumption. Therefore, a new UV light source for solving the problems of phototherapy is required. To realize low-power-consumption, lightweight and long-lifetime systems, group III nitride-based UV-A1 light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were investigated. We examined the UV LED irradiation of Jurkat cell, which is a tumor cell and more sensitive to UV light than a healthy cell. The numbers of apoptotic and necrotic cells were confirmed to be the same using a UV LED and a conventional lamp system. The UV LED showed the possibility of realizing a new UV light source for phototherapy.

Date Published: 3 February 2009
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7231, Light-Emitting Diodes: Materials, Devices, and Applications for Solid State Lighting XIII, 72310J (3 February 2009);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7231:
Light-Emitting Diodes: Materials, Devices, and Applications for Solid State Lighting XIII
Klaus P. Streubel; Heonsu Jeon; Li-Wei Tu, Editor(s)