Brain: Traumatic Brain Injuries / Post Concussion Syndrome

In ten patients with chronic TBI (tramatic brain injury) over 10 treatments, using a high-power NIR laser 810 nm.

Improvements Measured:

• Headache
• Sleep disturbance
• Cognition
• Mood dysregulation
• Anxiety
• Irritability

Lasers can safely and effectively treat chronic symptoms of TBI. The use of high-wattage lasers.. results in marked clinical improvement in patients with chronic TBI.

Improved or Completely Resolved:

• PTSD
• Anxiety/depression

Red photons have been reported to increase melatonin levels.
It is hypothesized that some NIR photons can reach the hippocampal/lateral entorhinal cortex areas via intranasal delivery to potentially improve memory.

Results recorded 1 week following 18 iLED treatments:

• Improved sleep
• Improved cognition
• Increase of 1 hour of sleep per night

“The light-emitting diodes add something beyond what’s currently available with cognitive rehabilitation therapy.” Encouraging results published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

11 patients with chronic TBI, Injuries from car accidents or sports concussions

Neuropsychological testing showed gains in areas such as:

• Executive Function
• Verbal learning
• Memory
• Better sleep and fewer PTSD symptoms

“The likelihood that LLLT (laser therapy) can induce the brain to repair itself after injury suggests that laser therapy may have much wider applications than that previously considered. Many diseases of the brain that are traumatic, degenerative, and psychiatric could be benefited if neurogenesis can be induced by an inexpensive, low-risk procedure without known side-effects. Moreover, LLLT appears to be a viable and efficient stimulus for enhancing endogenous neurogenesis and to exert a survivability enhancing effect on the neuroprogenitor cells, thus increasing their chance to get functionally integrated into the pre-existing neuronal circuitry. In our study, both cognitive performance and neuromotor assessment test studies corroborated the immunohistochemical findings.”

Conclusions:

• Lasers stimulate neurogenesis
• Lasers improve spatial memory and learning

Photobiomodulation and the brain: a new paradigm
We have studied PBM {laser therapy) for treating TBI in mice using a NIR laser spot delivered to the head. Mice had:

• Improved memory and learning
• Increased neuroprogenitor cells in the dentate gyrus and subventricular zone
• Increased BDNF
• More synaptogenesis in the cortex

These highly beneficial effects on the brain suggest that the applications of LLLT are much broader than first conceived. Other groups have studied stroke (animal models and clinical trials), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression and cognitive enhancement in healthy subjects.

The Alzheimer’s brain is inflamed, and the mitochondria have difficulty functioning and show signs of aging called oxidative stress. Laser light “can improve all three Conditions: inflammation, mitochondrial problems, and oxidative stress.

Animal studies (2014) show that the laser lights “lowered both the pathological tauproteins and amyloid plaques by 70 percent in key brain areas that Alzheimer’s Affects.”
“Light therapy improves damaged connections between neurons in Alzheimer’s by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).”

“Transcranial low-level laser therapy enhances learning, memory, and neuroprogenitor cells after traumatic brain injury in mice5 days and up to 28 days, the NSS (Neurologic severity scale) of the laser-treated mice were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the traumatized control mice that were not treated with the laser. The lesion volume of the laser treated mice was significantly lower (1.4%) than the non-treated group (12.1%). Our data suggest that a non-invasive transcranial application of LLLT given 4 h following TBI provides a significant long-term functional neurological benefit.”

“Near infrared transcranial laser therapy applied at various modes to mice following traumatic brain injury significantly reduces long-term neurological deficits. Our data suggest that non-invasive TLT of mice post-TBI provides a significant long-term functional neurological benefit, and that the pulsed laser mode at 100 Hz is the preferred mode for such treatment. This study has shown that both red laser (665 nm) and NIR laser (810 nm) can significantly improve the neurobehavioral performance of mice after CHI TBI.”

“Low-level laser therapy applied transcranially to mice following traumatic brain injury significantly reduces long-term neurological deficits. There were no significant changes in NSS (Neurological severity score) at 24 and 48 h between the laser-treated and non-treated mice. Yet, from 5 days and up to 28 days, the NSS of the laser-treated mice were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the traumatized control mice that were not treated with the laser. The lesion volume of the laser treated mice was significantly lower (1.4%) than the non-treated group (12.1%). Our data suggest that a non-invasive transcranial application of LLLT given 4 h following TBI provides a significant long-term functional neurological benefit.”