Efficacy of 1072nm Infrared Stimulation on Executive Functioning in Dementia

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged between 50 - 85 years.
• Have established cognitive impairment, Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score between 15- 25 (from a possible score of 30).
• Generally healthy otherwise as indicated by recent physical examination.
• Have a caregiver/informant who has cared for the patient at least 5 days a week and is willing to attend study visits and provide information about the patient.
• If taking any psychotropic medication should have been stable for the previous 3 months.
• Must have had B12, folic acid, full blood count and ferritin screen within the previous 6 months or be on B12 and/or folic acid replacement.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Uncontrolled or unstable chronic illness, e.g., hypertension, COPD.
• Diagnosed actively growing intracranial pathology (tumors etc).
• An associated psychotic illness.
• Misusing illegal substances or alcohol.
• On regular systemic steroids or anti-metabolites.
• Systemic malignancies and/or space occupying lesions in the brain.
• Not fluent in English.
• Depressed as assessed by Beck Depression Inventory score.
• Epilepsy.
• Lacking the capacity to give informed consent.
• Previous history of stroke or heart attack.
• History of aggression or violence.
• Inability to travel to the research venue for multiple assessments.
• A history of major psychiatric illness, seizure disorder, or physical illness that would compromise their participation in a daily treatment regimen.
• A participant may be disqualified if their performance is above the normative mean or below the lowest interpretable score of neuropsychological tests provided during the initial assessment (see #6, Sources of research material obtained from study participants, below).