It has been stated that transcranial light therapy has been effective in the cognitive levels of two patients who had with long-term deficits from traumatic brain injury, TBI.

Following a therapy of near-infrared light-emitting diodes, LEDs, placed on the forehead and scalp that was done at home, a TBI patient on medical disability was able to get back to his work as a technology consultant. The therapy was given to him for about four months.

With an ongoing treatment of LED treatment, attention capability that was much improved to 20 minutes to three hours in a patient who had a closed-head TBI for about seven years.

Margaret A. Naeser, PhD, of Boston University and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, and colleagues stated that a regression was seen in both the patients after light therapy was discontinued.

Naeser and her co-authors wrote in conclusion that, “Results from the two chronic TBI cases described here, along with those from previous light therapy studies with acute stroke patients and chronic, major depression cases, suggest that further, controlled research with this methodology is warranted.”