PMID- 19995444
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
DCOM- 20121002
LR  - 20220330
IS  - 1744-9081 (Electronic)
IS  - 1744-9081 (Linking)
VI  - 5
DP  - 2009 Dec 8
TI  - Psychological benefits 2 and 4 weeks after a single treatment with near infrared 
      light to the forehead: a pilot study of 10 patients with major depression and 
      anxiety.
PG  - 46
LID - 10.1186/1744-9081-5-46 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Many studies have reported beneficial effects from the application of 
      near-infrared (NIR) light photobiomodulation (PBM) to the body, and one group has 
      reported beneficial effects applying it to the brain in stroke patients. We have 
      reported that the measurement of a patient's left and right hemispheric emotional 
      valence (HEV) may clarify data and guide lateralized treatments. We sought to 
      test whether a NIR treatment could 1. improve the psychological status of 
      patients, 2. show a relationship between immediate psychological improvements 
      when HEV was taken into account, and 3. show an increase in frontal pole regional 
      cerebral blood flow (rCBF), and 4. be applied without side effects. METHODS: We 
      gave 10 patients, (5 M/5 F) with major depression, including 9 with anxiety, 7 
      with a past history of substance abuse (6 with an opiate abuse and 1 with an 
      alcohol abuse history), and 3 with post traumatic stress disorder, a baseline 
      standard diagnostic interview, a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), a 
      Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), and a Positive and Negative Affect Scale 
      (PANAS). We then gave four 4-minute treatments in a random order: NIR to left 
      forehead at F3, to right forehead at F4, and placebo treatments (light off) at 
      the same sites. Immediately following each treatment we repeated the PANAS, and 
      at 2-weeks and at 4-weeks post treatment we repeated all 3 rating scales. During 
      all treatments we recorded total hemoglobin (cHb), as a measure of rCBF with a 
      commercial NIR spectroscopy device over the left and the right frontal poles of 
      the brain. RESULTS: At 2-weeks post treatment 6 of 10 patients had a remission (a 
      score </= 10) on the HAM-D and 7 of 10 achieved this on the HAM-A. Patients 
      experienced highly significant reductions in both HAM-D and HAM-A scores 
      following treatment, with the greatest reductions occurring at 2 weeks. Mean rCBF 
      across hemispheres increased from 0.011 units in the off condition to 0.043 units 
      in the on condition, for a difference of 0.032 (95% CI: -0.016, 0.080) units, 
      though this result did not reach statistical significance. Immediately after 
      treatment the PANAS improved to a significantly greater extent with NIR "on" 
      relative to NIR "off" when a hemisphere with more positive HEV was treated than 
      when one with more negative HEV was treated. We observed no side effects. 
      CONCLUSION: This small feasibility study suggests that NIR-PBM may have utility 
      for the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders and that double 
      blind randomized placebo-controlled trials are indicated. TRIAL REGISTRATION: 
      ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00961454.
FAU - Schiffer, Fredric
AU  - Schiffer F
AD  - The Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and the Developmental 
      Biopsychiatry Research Program, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street Belmont, MA 
      02478 USA. fschiffer@mclean.harvard.edu.
FAU - Johnston, Andrea L
AU  - Johnston AL
FAU - Ravichandran, Caitlin
AU  - Ravichandran C
FAU - Polcari, Ann
AU  - Polcari A
FAU - Teicher, Martin H
AU  - Teicher MH
FAU - Webb, Robert H
AU  - Webb RH
FAU - Hamblin, Michael R
AU  - Hamblin MR
LA  - eng
SI  - ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00961454
GR  - R01 AI050875/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States
GR  - R01 AI050875-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20091208
PL  - England
TA  - Behav Brain Funct
JT  - Behavioral and brain functions : BBF
JID - 101245751
PMC - PMC2796659
EDAT- 2009/12/10 06:00
MHDA- 2009/12/10 06:01
PMCR- 2009/12/08
CRDT- 2009/12/10 06:00
PHST- 2009/08/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2009/12/08 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2009/12/10 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2009/12/10 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2009/12/10 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2009/12/08 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 1744-9081-5-46 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/1744-9081-5-46 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Behav Brain Funct. 2009 Dec 8;5:46. doi: 10.1186/1744-9081-5-46.