Transcranial light-emitting diode therapy for neuropsychological improvement after traumatic brain injury: a new perspective for diffuse axonal lesion management

Abstract

The cost of traumatic brain injury (TBI) for public health policies is undeniable today. Even patients who suffer from mild TBI may persist with cognitive symptoms weeks after the accident. Most of them show no lesion in computed tomography or conventional magnetic resonance imaging, but microstructural white matter abnormalities (diffuse axonal lesion) can be found in diffusion tensor imaging. Different brain networks work together to form an important part of the cognition process, and they can be affected by TBI. The default mode network (DMN) plays an important central role in normal brain activities, presenting greater relative deactivation during more cognitively demanding tasks. After deactivation, it allows a distinct network to activate. This network (the central executive network) acts mainly during tasks involving executive functions. The salience network is another network necessary for normal executive function, and its activation leads to deactivation of the DMN. The use of red or near-infrared (NIR) light to stimulate or regenerate tissue is known as photobiomodulation. It was discovered that NIR (wavelength 800–900 nm) and red (wavelength 600 nm) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are able to penetrate through scalp and skull and have the potential to improve the subnormal, cellular activity of compromised brain tissue. Based on this, different experimental and clinical studies were done to test LED therapy for TBI, and promising results were found. It leads us to consider developing different approaches to maximize the positive effects of this therapy and improve the quality of life of TBI patients.

Fotobiomodulação na prevenção e tratamento de sintomas neurológicos decorrentes da COVID-19: perspectivas a partir da literatura científica / Photobiomodulation in the prevention and treatment of neurological symptoms arising from COVID-19: perspectives from scientific literature

“…6. "Photobiomodulation" and "neurological" and "impacts"; As aplicações da fotobiomodulação no contexto neurológico em geral, de acordo com os resultados da busca nas bases de dados concerne aos seguintes assuntos: isquemiahipóxia cerebral/acidente vascular cerebral 75,76,79,80,83,90 ; doença de Parkinson 78,79,80 ; doença de Alzheimer 80,81 ; performance motora 85 ; lesão traumática cerebral 79,80,82,87,88,91,92 ; reabilitação pós-operatória de hérnia discal 86 ; patologias retinianas 79 ; desordens neuropsicológicas, cognição e estado emocional 77,79,80,89 ; e, mecanismos de ação no cérebro 80,84 . A tabela 1 resume os principais achados das bases de dados de acordo com os distúrbios patológicos de cunho neurológico.…”

“…Isquemia-hipóxia cerebral/acidente vascular cerebral WANG et al, 2019 [75] TUCKER et al, 2018 [76] ROJAS & GONZALEZ-LIMA, 2011 [79] SALEHPOUR et al, 2018 [80] HAMBLIN, 2018 [83] TIAN et al, 2016 [90] Doença de Parkinson MIGUEL et al, 2016 [78] ROJAS & GONZALEZ-LIMA, 2011 [79] SALEHPOUR et al, 2018 [80] Doença de Alzheimer SALEHPOUR et al, 2018 [80] ZINCHENKO et al, 2019 [81] Performance motora FEKRI et al, 2019 [85] Lesão traumática cerebral ROJAS & GONZALEZ-LIMA, 2011 [79] SALEHPOUR et al, 2018 [80] CARNEIRO et al, 2019 [82] THUNSHELLE & HAMBLIN, 2016 [87] SANTOS et al, 2018 [88] XUAN et al, 2016 [91] HUANG et al, 2011 [92] Reabilitação pós-operatória de hérnia discal BRUNO et al, 2020 [86] Patologias retinianas ROJAS & GONZALEZ-LIMA, 2011 [79] Desordens neuropsicológicas, cognição e estado emocional LIEBERT et al, 2016 [77] ROJAS & GONZALEZ-LIMA, 2011 [79] SALEHPOUR et al, 2018 [80] SANTOS et al, 2018 [89] Fonte: Tabela produzida pelos autores deste trabalho.…”

“…Algumas revisões sistemáticas e estudos clínicos tem sugerido a eficácia da PBM para o manejo de patologias neurológicas 41,42,43,44,45 , mas não especificamente para os sintomas neurológicos decorrentes da COVID-19. Sendo assim, buscou-se levantar informações a partir de bancos de dados científicos e analisar se a PBM poderia ser utilizada como ferramenta para prevenção e tratamento de sintomas neurológicos consequentes da infecção por SARS-CoV-2.…”