Quantitative Analysis of Transcranial and Intraparenchymal Light Penetration in Human Cadaver Brain Tissue

Clark E. Tedford,¹ Scott DeLapp,¹ Steven Jacques,² and Juanita Anders³

¹LumiThera, Inc., Poulsbo, Washington 98370
²Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon
³Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda,
Maryland 20814

Background and Objective: Photobiomodulation (PBM) also known as low-level light therapy has been used successfully for the treatment of injury and disease of the nervous system. The use of PBM to treat injury and diseases of the brain requires an in-depth understanding of light propagation through tissues including scalp, skull, meninges, and brain. This study investigated the light penetration gradients in the human cadaver brain using a Transcranial Laser System with a 30mm diameter beam of 808nm wavelength light. In addition, the wavelength dependence of light scatter and absorbance in intraparenchymal brain tissue using 660, 808, and 940nm wavelengths was investigated.

Read the PDF: LSM 2015 tedford et al cadaver study