A study by Margaret Naeser, PhD, from Boston University School of Medicine and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in Boston, has found that daily self-administered light therapy via light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can lead to improvements in cognitive function in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients as well as improvements in post-traumatic stress disorder.
Two longstanding TBI patients were in the study. One sustained a closed-head TBI in a motor vehicle accident (MVA) in April 1997, while the other one was suffering from cognitive dysfunction due to an accident in which she fell backwards from a swing, hitting the back of her head on concrete.
Each patient applied red and near-infrared (LEDs) to their forehead and scalp areas every night. Following treatments with LEDs, both patients demonstrated substantial improvement in cognitive function, including improved memory, inhibition, and ability to sustain attention and focus. Both patients are continuing LED treatments in their homes.
Prior to LED therapy, one patient was on medical disability for 5 months. After 4 months of nightly LED treatments at home, she was able to discontinue medical disability and return to working full-time as an executive consultant with an international technology consulting firm.
The findings are published under the heading 'Improved Cognitive Function After Transcranial, Light-Emitting Diode Treatments in Chronic, Traumatic Brain Injury: Two Case Reports' in Photomedicine and Laser Surgery, a peer-reviewed journal.
Raymond J. Lanzafame, MD, MBA, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, said "The results of this study will provide a basis for future therapeutic use of phototherapy to improve recovery after injury and facilitate management of other CNS disorders.”
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