ArticleFrontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry2025
Transcranial photobiomodulation for reducing symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and modulating brain electrophysiology in children aged 2-7: an open label study.
Article in Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04660552 (Transcranial Photobiomodulation for Reducing Autism Symptoms in Children), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Transcranial Photobiomodulation for Reducing Autism Symptoms in Children
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Light-based 40 Hz sensory therapy for brain disorders: physiological basis, therapeutic mechanisms, and future prospects.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Small pilot studies have indicated that transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) may help alleviate symptoms of neurological conditions like depression, traumatic brain injury and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Objective: To examine the effect of tPBM on the behavioral symptoms of ASD and brain electrophysiology in children aged 2-7. Methods: We conducted an open label, one-arm study with 23 participants, aged 2-7, previously diagnosed with ASD. We delivered non-invasively to all participants pulses of near-infrared light (wavelength 850 nm, pulse 40 Hz) to cortical nodes of Default Mode Network, Broca and Wernicke areas, and occipital lobe of the brain, twice weekly for 10 weeks. The tPBM was delivered using an investigational medical device designed for this purpose. Changes in ASD symptoms were measured using pre- and post-intervention scores on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS-2, 2nd Edition). We collected electroencephalogram (EEG) data after each treatment session from all children who tolerated wearing the EEG cap to monitor changes in brain activity. Results: The intervention resulted in a significant 7-point reduction in average CARS-2 scores ( Conclusion: This study supports the potential of tPBM as a safe and effective treatment for ASD, and it suggests that EEG measurements may serve as a useful biomarker for future research. Trial Registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04660552.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.