Revisiting Transcranial Light Stimulation as a Stroke Therapeutic—Hurdles and Opportunities

  • Wuwei Feng
  • , Alexis Domeracki
  • , Christine Park
  • , Shreyansh Shah
  • , Pratik Y. Chhatbar
  • , Swaroop Pawar
  • , Cherylee Chang
  • , Po Chun Hsu
  • , Eric Richardson
  • , David Hasan
  • , Estate Sokhadze
  • , Quanguang Zhang
  • , Hanli Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Near-infrared laser therapy, a special form of transcranial light therapy, has been tested as an acute stroke therapy in three large clinical trials. While the NEST trials failed to show the efficacy of light therapy in human stroke patients, there are many lingering questions and lessons that can be learned. In this review, we summarize the putative mechanism of light stimulation in the setting of stroke, highlight barriers, and challenges during the translational process, and evaluate light stimulation parameters, dosages and safety issues, choice of outcomes, effect size, and patient selection criteria. In the end, we propose potential future opportunities with transcranial light stimulation as a cerebroprotective or restorative tool for future stroke treatment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)854-862
Number of pages9
JournalTranslational Stroke Research
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cerebroprotection
  • Ischemic stroke
  • Near-infrared laser therapy
  • Noninvasive brain stimulation
  • Stroke recovery
  • Transcranial light stimulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Revisiting Transcranial Light Stimulation as a Stroke Therapeutic—Hurdles and Opportunities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this