By Theodore Henderson, MD, PhD
Finding answers to complex conditions continues to fuel my passion for helping patients recover themselves and their lives. I am continually fascinated about the latest science that supports this passion. I am proud to share the results from the following study with you, which is nothing short of a breakthrough, and one of the most exciting medical discoveries in a long time.
In the April 2015 issue of Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, our study found patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) responded extremely well to transcranial near-infrared laser treatment (NILT). Simply put, our team applied NILT directly to the location of the injury, allowing the laser to penetrate the skull and energize the damaged brain cells.
The results have been TERRIFIC!
Anyone diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, whether from playing contact sports or serving our country, knows the desperate challenge with finding treatments that re-build the brain. While medications, lifestyle interventions and therapy have proven to be helpful, NILT gives patients something that is directly impacting the injury. Athletes might compare it with having electronic stimulation to help muscles and joints heal — only NILT is for brain injuries.
To date, little progress has been made in developing effective treatments for chronic mild- to moderate TBI or repetitive concussions. It’s become more pressing with rise in incidence among military veterans, and the epidemic-like sport-related concussions occurring virtually every minute and capturing the headlines.
Here’s the good news: Patients in the study, and others since, report dramatic clinical improvement in their symptoms which are typically anxiety, depression, headaches, sleep disturbances, cognitive breakdowns, mood dysregulation and irritability.
No side effects.
No pain.
No scalp redness.
The biggest difference, is we found the symptoms were not transient — meaning the symptoms went away.
From the study: “NILT has shown promise as a tool for the treatment of TBI… The use of high-wattage lasers, as we have demonstrated, results in marked clinical improvement in patients with chronic TBI. Moreover, symptoms consistent with PTSD, anxiety, and/or depression also improved considerably or resolved in this group of patients.”
For more information about the study and treatment, contact me at (720) 493-1101.
# # #
Videos from the TBI Gala
