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Transcranial Near-Infrared Light in Healthy Subjects: a Cerebral Blood Flow Study With Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy

Transcranial Near-Infrared Light in Healthy Subjects: a Cerebral Blood Flow Study With Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03740152
Acronym
NIR-Flow
Enrollment
10
Registered
2018-11-14
Start date
2017-08-22
Completion date
2019-05-16
Last updated
2020-11-19

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Cognitive Change

Brief summary

Transcranial Light Therapy involves non-invasive and invisible beams of light that increase energy metabolism in the brain. Transcranial light therapy has been found to promote brain metabolism. The purpose of the study is: To asses the change in cerebral blood flow induced by the Transcranial Continuous and Pulse Near-Infrared Light Therapy in healthy subjects. To correlate with cognitive performance the change in cerebral blood flow induced by the Transcranial Continuous and Pulse Near-Infrared Light Therapy in healthy subjects. To correlate with skin pigmentation the change in cerebral blood flow induced by the Transcranial Continuous and Pulse Near-Infrared Light Therapy in healthy subjects. To assess the safety and tolerability of the Transcranial Continuous and Pulse Near-Infrared Light Therapy in healthy subjects

Detailed description

During study visits a clinician applies transcranial light therapy to both sides of a participant's forehead for about 30 minutes. The study involves, 1 screening visit which may last up to 3 hours, 3 transcranial light therapy treatment visits, and 1 posttreatment visit (5 total visits to the Massachusetts General Hospital). All eligible participants will have 1 visit with continuous light, 1 visit with pulsed light, and 1 visit with sham light. Cerebral blood flow will be measured before and after each light session using DCS-spectroscopy. During sham transcranial light therapy visits, the transcranial light therapy device will not produce near infrared waves (e.g., light energy that cannot penetrate the skin and cranium). The participant will not know which treatment is received at each visit.

Interventions

Device: LiteCure® The PhotoBioModulation-1000 (TPBM-1000)

Sponsors

Massachusetts General Hospital
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Masking description

Participant receives all three types of light: continuous, pulse, and sham. They do not know when they receive each type of light, but they do know that they will receive all three.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Subjects age at screening will be between 18 and 70 years old (inclusive). 2. Women of child-bearing potential must use a double-barrier method for birth control (e.g. condoms plus spermicide) if sexually active. 3. Subject Informed Consent obtained in writing in compliance with local regulations prior to enrollment into this study. 4. The subject is willing to participate in this study for at least 5 weeks.

Exclusion criteria

1. The subject is pregnant or lactating. 2. The subject is on any psychotropic medication. 3. Psychotherapy is exclusionary unless the subject has had at least 8 weeks of treatment prior to the screening visit. 4. Any current psychiatric disorder (per SCID assessment) 5. Substance or alcohol dependence or abuse in the past 6 months. 6. History of a psychotic disorder or psychotic episode (current psychotic episode per SCID assessment). 7. Bipolar affective disorder (per SCID assessment). 8. Unstable medical or neurological illness, defined as any illness which is not well-controlled with standard-of-care medications (e.g., insulin for diabetes mellitus, HCTZ for hypertension). 9. Suicidal or homicidal ideation as determined by SCID screening. 10. The subject has a significant skin condition (i.e., hemangioma, scleroderma, psoriasis, rash, open wound or tattoo) on the subject's scalp that is found to be in proximity to any of the procedure sites. 11. The subject has an implant of any kind in the head (e.g. stent, clipped aneurysm, embolised Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), implantable shunt - Hakim valve). 12. Any use of light-activated drugs (photodynamic therapy) within 14 days prior to study enrollment (in US: Visudyne (verteporfin) - for age related macular degeneration; Aminolevulinic Acid- for actinic keratoses; Photofrin (porfimer sodium) - for esophageal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer; Levulan Kerastick (aminolevulinic acid HCl) - for actinic keratosis; 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)- for non-melanoma skin cancer) 13. Recent history of stroke (90 days). 14. Personality traits that rend the subject unsuitable for the study, based on the investigators' clinical judgment.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in Cerebral Blood Flow (Baseline to Week 5)5 weeksMeasured using Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (DCS) signal.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in Accuracy on N-Back Task (Baseline to Week 5)5 weeksThe N-Back task is a measure of working memory. Participants are presented a sequence of stimuli and they must decide if the current stimulus is the same as the one presented 2 trials ago. Accuracy was measured as a percentage of correct to incorrect trials.
Number of Participants With Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events5 weeksThe safety endpoints will evaluate any reported adverse events within one week from each sessions of TLT.

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Transcranial Light Therapy
All subjects will be administered 1 week of continuous TLT, 1 week of pulsed TLT, and 1 week of sham TLT. Transcranial Light Therapy: Device: LiteCure® The PhotoBioModulation-1000 (TPBM-1000)
10
Total10

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicTranscranial Light Therapy
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
0 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
10 Participants
Age, Continuous28.6 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 12.9
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
3 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
7 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
3 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
1 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
6 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
10 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
6 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
4 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
0 / 10
other
Total, other adverse events
3 / 10
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 10

Outcome results

Primary

Change in Cerebral Blood Flow (Baseline to Week 5)

Measured using Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (DCS) signal.

Time frame: 5 weeks

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Transcranial Light TherapyChange in Cerebral Blood Flow (Baseline to Week 5)2.15 mm2/sStandard Deviation 1.76
Secondary

Change in Accuracy on N-Back Task (Baseline to Week 5)

The N-Back task is a measure of working memory. Participants are presented a sequence of stimuli and they must decide if the current stimulus is the same as the one presented 2 trials ago. Accuracy was measured as a percentage of correct to incorrect trials.

Time frame: 5 weeks

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Transcranial Light TherapyChange in Accuracy on N-Back Task (Baseline to Week 5)-4.49 accuracy percentageStandard Deviation 20.84
Secondary

Number of Participants With Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events

The safety endpoints will evaluate any reported adverse events within one week from each sessions of TLT.

Time frame: 5 weeks

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Transcranial Light TherapyNumber of Participants With Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events3 Participants

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026