The effect of transcranial photobiomodulation on cognitive function and attentional performance of older women with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

What the authors concluded

The current study indicated a beneficial effect of light treatment by using 5 sessions of tPBM on the rPFC with an 850-nm LED source, which consequently improved the cognitive capacity and attentional performance of older women with MCI." Comment: The improvement in MMSE seems almost unbelievable (from approximately 18 -> 27 in PBM group compared to 20 -> 20 in sham group).

Devices that emit this wavelength

Matched on wavelength within 15nm, since LED bins vary by roughly that much and a tighter match would be false precision. Where we have an irradiance figure, the session length is the time needed to reach this study's dose of 42.75 J/cm² at that intensity.

Matching a wavelength is not the same as reproducing a trial. Session times assume the device's published irradiance is accurate at the distance it was measured, which on brand-claim figures is often optimistic. Where a device publishes both a peak and an average we use the average, and where it publishes a falloff curve we use the lowest figure, so these times run long rather than short. Clinical protocols also control for spot size, contact and skin type in ways a home device cannot.