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In the world of medicine, there's a long-standing axiom: you can't treat what you can't measure.
Nowhere is this more true than in neurology and neuroscience, where many assessments have traditionally relied on subjective reports and behavior-based tests. But that's rapidly changing.
At a recent Neuronic discussion round, Dr. Ryan D'Arcy, neuroscientist and co-founder of NeuroCatch, shared powerful insights into how objective, neurophysiological measurements are reshaping how we understand and care for brain health. Dr. D’Arcy presents a series of cases where the NeuroCatch device was used to measure the impact of Neuronic’s transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) devices on cognitive function.
Definition Box:
- ERPs - a measurable brain response that is time-locked to a specific stimulus or event, such as a sound, image, or word. NeuroCatch uses the response to sounds and words.
- N100 Response - measures auditory sensation. It is essentially your brain’s response to hearing the tone. Occurs approximately 100 milliseconds after hearing the tone.
- P300 Response - measures basic attention, elicited by random unexpected tones embedded within a routine sequence of expected tones. Occurs approximately 300 milliseconds after hearing unexpected tones.
- N400 Response - measures a high-level cognitive response. It is related to processing the meaning of word pairs, where some word pairs match and others do not. Occurs around 400 after hearing mismatching words.
- Latency - measures response time.
- Amplitude - measures the strength or intensity of brain activity in response to the stimulus.
- Variance - measures the stability and consistency of brain processing.
Cases
Case #1: College Football Receiver
In a case using the Neuradiant 1070, a NeuroCatch scan was conducted before and after a 10-minute Glow session to evaluate cognitive processing speed, specifically the N400 event-related potential (ERP). The pre-PBM N400 latency measured at 500 milliseconds, while the post-PBM scan showed a marked improvement at 430 milliseconds - a 70-millisecond improvement. This suggests a notable performance advantage in cognitive anticipation, as the N400 is particularly sensitive to cognitive performance, concussion, and mild cognitive impairment. Dr. D’Arcy shared his own experience attempting to optimize his N400. His baseline measurement was 452 milliseconds - within a healthy range - but through focused mental effort, he was only able to improve it by 32 milliseconds, reaching 420 ms. Reflecting on the 70-millisecond change observed in the athlete, D’Arcy emphasized its significance: “The max I moved mine was 32 milliseconds, so 70 milliseconds caught our attention.”
Case #2: Redbull Tennessee National - Acute Concussion
A young rider who had recently experienced a crash and was presenting with clear concussion symptoms underwent a baseline NeuroCatch scan, which revealed a significant drop in cognitive processing. Most notably, the N400 latency—a marker of higher-level cognitive function - was dramatically delayed at 674 ms. Following a single 10-minute Glow protocol session using the Neuronic 1070 device, a follow-up scan showed a remarkable improvement: the N400 latency had decreased to 314 milliseconds, indicating a notable recovery in cognitive processing speed within minutes of PBM intervention.
Case #3: 70 Year Old Man with Mild Cognitive Impairment
In a case involving an individual with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Neuronic was used as an intervention while NeuroCatch was employed to track changes in brain function over time. The N400 latency, a key marker of cognitive processing, was initially recorded at 486 milliseconds. At the midpoint of the intervention, the N400 had improved to 454 milliseconds, and by the end of the protocol a year later, it further decreased to 430 milliseconds. This progressive reduction in N400 latency suggests a meaningful improvement in cognitive processing speed.
Case #4: Moderate/Severe Alzheimer’s Patient
In Case #4, a patient with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease with chronic significant cognitive impairment - underwent a baseline NeuroCatch scan followed by a session of PBM sessions with the Neuronic 1070 with a post-treatment scan conducted afterward. While there were no notable changes in N400 latency, the scan revealed clear amplitude improvements in the N400 response, suggesting increased cortical activation. Additionally, gains were observed in attentional processing. The radar plot showed that the post-PBM scan (green) shifted closer to the healthy reference range compared to the baseline (blue), particularly in the cognitive processing domain. This is especially compelling, as it demonstrates that even in moderate to late-stage dementia, PBM can produce measurable neurophysiological changes - though these changes may manifest differently than those seen in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.
Watch the Full Discussion Round:
Future Exploratory Questions:
Dr. D’Arcy highlights some important questions moving forward in the field of using ERPs to measure the impact of PBM:
- Does the type of protocol selected impact the significance of results?
- What is the roll-off effect? How long do the effects last?
- How can tPBM be integrated with other modalities?
Concluding Points:
While there were many astounding findings from these series of cases, a few main points can be seen:
- While performance gains in healthy individuals can vary, once it exceeds the 50-100 ms range, it becomes notable. These case studies show that the use of Neuronic devices can cause a 70 ms change.
- PBM induced latency effects seem to be larger in acutely compromised states.
- Overall, all the findings from this presentation are “in-the-field” observations and experimental validation is required.
References:
Castañeda, M., Ostrosky-Solis, F., Pérez , M., Bobes, M. A., & Rangel, L. E. (1998, August 20). ERP assessment of semantic memory in alzheimer’s disease. International Journal of Psychophysiology. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167876097000640
Fickling , S. D., Smith , A. M., Pawlowski, G., Hajra, S. G., Farrell, K., Liu, C. C., Jorgensen , J., Song , X., Stuart , M. J., & D’Arcy, R. C. N. (2019, February). Brain vital signs detect concussion-related neurophysiological impairments in ice hockey | Brain | Oxford academic. Oxford Academic. https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/142/2/255/5288791
Polich, J., & Corey-Bloom, J. (2005, December). Alzheimer’s disease and P300: Review and evaluation of task and modality. Current Alzheimer research. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16375655/#:~:text=Abstract,and%20practical%20implications%20are%20reviewed
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