Photobiomodulation and Down Syndrome
A case study of 3 children
The October 2019 issue of Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery recently published an interesting article.
A team of 4 researchers published a case study concerning the use of transcranial photobiomodulation on 3 children with Down syndrome. The latter (1 girl aged 8 and 2 boys aged 11 and 12) followed a therapy of 2 sessions per week, for 4 weeks.
Regarding the lighting, it was carried out using the Omnilux New U machine and two very specific areas of the skull, called F3 and F4 , were targeted.
Very encouraging results!
As for the feedback from parents, it is very positive:
- Improving fine motor skills
- Better verbal fluency
- Better investment in home activities (in fact, children required less supervision)
- Parents described their child as calmer, less hyperactive, more able to relax and participate in the activity of the moment
- Children make more detailed drawings
Moreover, the young 8-year-old patient made 4 drawings representing her doctor throughout her Photobiomodulation therapy.
The evolution is quite impressive:
- The first drawing, starting from the left, was made just before therapy.
- The second drawing was made after 14 days (i.e. 4 lighting sessions).
- The third drawing was made after 28 days (i.e. 8 lighting sessions).
- Finally, at the far right, the drawing was made after 8 weeks (i.e. 16 lighting sessions).
Ultimately, based on these 3 cases, Transcranial Photobiomodulation appears to be a promising therapy for people with Down syndrome. Hence the need for larger studies.
If you would like to know more about this therapy, please feel free to read my article on this topic.
Article update (September 2021)
An update to this article is available here . You will find even more details about these children's progress!
Source
Piero Mannu , Marco Maiello , Vincenza Spera and Paolo Cassano carried out this study which is available in the journal Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery of October 2019.