From Machine to Mind: Can We Close the Loop? At the 2019 Mind-Body Interface International Symposium (Taiwan): Dr Paolo Cassano suggests that machines shedding near-infrared light onto the head could communicate with the mind.

1. Transcranial Photobiomodulation in the
Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders:
Can we Close the Loop?
Oct 7th, 2019
MBI 2019, Taichung, Taiwan
Paolo Cassano MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Director of Photobiomodulation
Depression and Clinical Research Program
Division of Neuropsychiatry
Massachusetts General Hospital

2. Disclosures
Niraxx Light Therapeutics Inc Advisory Board
Board Member
Equity
Royalties
LiteCure LLC Contracted Research
Cerebral Sciences Inc Contracted Research
Mass General Hospital – Patents No Applicable Royalties

4. Which light?

11. Near-infrared light: so what?

12. Salehpour et al. Molecular Neurobiology, 2018

13. Salehpour et al.
Molecular Neurobiology, 2018

14. Wang et al. (2017)
Transcranial Photobiomodulation & Oxidized Cyt-C Oxidase

15. J Clin Orthop Trauma. 2016 Oct-Dec; 7(4): 234–241.
Effect of Near-Infrared Light on In Vitro Cellular ATP

16. Light to the brain?

17. Yuan et al. submitted for publication
Target Brain Regions

18. Yuan et al. submitted for publication
Energy Deposition and Extra-Cerebral Tissues’ Thickness

19. Yuan et al. submitted for publication
Extra-Cerebral Tissues’ Thickness and Age

20. Brain power

22. NIR-Flow Study Design
Spera & Sitnikova et al. unpublished

23. Eyes Closed Resting State EEG: Spectrogram Differences
Spera & Sitnikova et al. submitted for publication
p < .015

24. Neurons: a mechanistic hypothesis

26. Mechanistic Hypothesis

27. Light for major depressive disorder

28. Transcranial-Photobiomodulation for Depression: ELATED-2
Cassano et al. 2018 - Photomed Laser Surg.
• MDD (n=21)
• Double-blind, randomized, sham
• Parallel Design
• LED
• Two sessions x week
• 8-week follow up
• Wavelength: 830 nm
Omnilux New U – Photomedex

29. ELATED-2:
Flow Diagram
Cassano et al. 2018 –
Photomed Laser Surg.

30. ELATED-2: Demographics
Cassano et al. 2018 - Photomed Laser Surg.

31. ELATED-2: Depression Scores in Overall Sample
.
(Mann Whitney U-test – endpoint carried forward)
p=.047
Cassano et al. 2018 - Photomed Laser Surg.

32. ELATED-2: Depression Scores in Completers
p=.031
(Mann Whitney U-test)
Cassano et al. 2018 - Photomed Laser Surg.

33. Transcranial-Photobiomodulation for Depression: ELATED-3
• MDD (n=38)
• Double-blind, randomized, sham
• Sequenced Parallel Design
• LED
• Two sessions x week
• 12-week follow up
• Wavelength: 830 nm
TPBM-1000 – Litecure
Iosifescu et al. unpublished

34. ELATED-3: HAMD17 Depression Scores in Overall Sample
.
Iosifescu et al. unpublished
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
HamD
Scores
Visit
HamD Scores by Visit and Treatment Group
Treatment 1
Treatment 2
Treatment 3
NIR – NIR
Sham – NIR
Sham - Sham
SPCD pooled
p=0.66
t-test
n=15
n=13
n=10

35. Light dosimetry matters

36. Fp1 and Fp2
1.54 kJ
per session

37. One Size Does Not Fit All…

38. Personalize: could we?

39. machine
mind’s sensors
Personalized Dose

40. The light from within

43. Biophotons and Cellular Communication
J Integr Neurosci. 2015 Sep;14(3):419-29.
J Photochem Photobiol B. 2014 Oct 5;139:71-5.

44. MGH Depression Program
North Eastern University
Qianqian Fang
Anh Phong Tran
Yaoshen Yuan
Nathan Kline Institute, NY
Dan Iosifescu
LiteCure LLC.
Luis De Taboada
Mass General Hospital
Depression Program
Sam Petrie
Garrett Thomas
Richard Norton
David Mischoulon
Cris Cusin
Maurizio Fava
Andy Nierenberg
Anxiety Program
Meredith Ward
Eric Bui
Tatiana Sitnikova
Mari Franceschini
Michael Hamblin
Husam Katnani
Mass Eye and Ear.
Benjamin Bleier
University of Pisa
Vincenza Spera
Marco Maiello

47. ELATED-2: Side Effects
Cassano et al. unpublished