Deans' stroke musings: Light Therapy Boosts Brain Healing in TBI Patients

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Light Therapy Boosts Brain Healing in TBI Patients

Didn't your competent doctor start using this years ago? oh, you don't have a competent doctor, do you?

Augmentation of cognitive brain functions with transcranial lasers December 2014

Exposure to near-infrared light before bed linked to better sleep, daytime function June 2023

Near-Infrared Light Regenerates Damage From Traumatic Brain Injury, Latest of Five Studies Show May 2016

Light Therapy Boosts Brain Healing in TBI Patients

Summary: Low-level light therapy aids brain healing in patients with moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using a helmet that emits near-infrared light, researchers observed increased brain connectivity within two weeks of treatment.

While the long-term effects are still unknown, the therapy shows promise for treating various neurological conditions. The study highlights the potential of light therapy as a non-invasive treatment.

Key Facts:

Study Findings: Light therapy increased brain connectivity in TBI patients within two weeks.
Research Method: 38 patients received therapy through a near-infrared light helmet.
Potential Applications: Light therapy could also treat PTSD, depression, and autism.

Source: RSNA

Low-level light therapy appears to affect healing in the brains of people who suffered significant brain injuries, according to a study published today in Radiology.

Lights of different wavelengths have been studied for years for their wound-healing properties. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) conducted low-level light therapy on 38 patients who had suffered moderate traumatic brain injury, an injury to the head serious enough to alter cognition and/or be visible on a brain scan.

This shows a woman undergoing light therapy. — Patients who received low-level light therapy showed a greater change in resting-state connectivity in seven brain region pairs during the acute-to-subacute recovery phase compared to the control participants. Credit: Neuroscience News

Patients received light therapy within 72 hours of their injuries through a helmet that emits near-infrared light.

“The skull is quite transparent to near-infrared light,” said study co-lead author Rajiv Gupta, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Radiology at MGH. “Once you put the helmet on, your whole brain is bathing in this light.”

The researchers used an imaging technique called functional MRI to gauge the effects of the light therapy. They focused on the brain’s resting-state functional connectivity, the communication between brain regions that occurs when a person is at rest and not engaged in a specific task.

The researchers compared MRI results during three recovery phases: the acute phase of within one week after injury, the subacute phase of two to three weeks post-injury and the late-subacute phase of three months after injury.

Of the 38 patients in the trial, 21 did not receive light therapy while wearing the helmet. This was done to serve as a control to minimize bias due to patient characteristics and to avoid potential placebo effects.

Patients who received low-level light therapy showed a greater change in resting-state connectivity in seven brain region pairs during the acute-to-subacute recovery phase compared to the control participants.

“There was increased connectivity in those receiving light treatment, primarily within the first two weeks,” said study coauthor Nathaniel Mercaldo, Ph.D., a statistician with MGH.

“We were unable to detect differences in connectivity between the two treatment groups long term, so although the treatment appears to increase the brain connectivity initially, its long-term effects are still to be determined.”

The precise mechanism of the light therapy’s effects on the brain is also still to be determined. Previous research points to the alteration of an enzyme in the cell’s mitochondria (often referred to as the “powerhouse” of a cell), Dr. Gupta said.

This leads to more production of adenosine triphosphate, a molecule that stores and transfers energy in the cells. Light therapy has also been linked with blood vessel dilation and anti-inflammatory effects.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to understand the exact physiological mechanism behind these effects,” said study coauthor Suk-tak Chan, Ph.D., a biomedical engineer at MGH.

While connectivity increased for the light therapy-treated patients during the acute to subacute phases, there was no evidence of a difference in clinical outcomes between the treated and control participants.

Additional studies with larger cohorts of patients and correlative imaging beyond three months may help determine the therapeutic role of light in traumatic brain injury.

The researchers expect the role of light therapy to expand as more study results come in. The 810-nanometer-wavelength light used in the study is already employed in various therapeutic applications. It’s safe, easy to administer and does not require surgery or medications.

The helmet’s portability means it can be delivered in settings outside of the hospital. It may have applications in treating many other neurological conditions, according to Dr. Gupta.

“There are lots of disorders of connectivity, mostly in psychiatry, where this intervention may have a role,” he said. “PTSD, depression, autism: these are all promising areas for light therapy.”