CN115212469A

CN115212469A - Light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression

Info

Publication number: CN115212469A
Application number: CN202210886248.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 汪待发; 汪恭正; 赵小静; 郭蓉
Original assignee: Danyang Huichuang Medical Equipment Co ltd
Current assignee: Danyang Huichuang Medical Equipment Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-26
Filing date: 2022-07-26
Publication date: 2022-10-21

Abstract

The present application relates to a light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression, comprising a housing configured to receive a head of a patient, and an array of near-infrared irradiation units disposed in the housing, the array of near-infrared irradiation units being configured to emit a first central wavelength of 800-820 nm and an average power density of more than 40mW/cm onto the head of the patient ² Has an average power density of 80mW/cm, at least in the case of treatment of depression ² ‑200mW/cm ² . The light therapy device also includes a cooling mechanism including a refrigerator and a passageway that delivers cold air generated by the refrigerator to the head of the patient to dissipate heat from the head of the patient. The light treatment equipment can improve the comfort level of the patient and promoteThe treatment compliance of the patients can prolong the single treatment time and ensure the good treatment effect on the psychological diseases such as depression.

Description

Light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of medical devices, and more particularly, to a light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression.

Background

Epidemiological survey shows that the incidence rate of human psychological diseases in modern society presents an increasing trend, wherein depression is one of the most common psychological diseases at present, is mainly characterized by continuous and long-term low mood and can be accompanied by somatization symptoms such as chest distress and short breath, schizophrenia symptoms such as auditory hallucinations, delusions and multiple personality can appear in serious people, even the schizophrenia symptoms can be developed to the degree of suicidal tendency and behavior, and the incidence (and suicide events) of the psychological diseases begin to appear the trend of low age. In addition, depression has a long duration of each episode, and most cases have a tendency to relapse, which places a heavy burden on individuals, families, and society.

For depression, besides drug Therapy and psychological Therapy, physical Therapy methods such as Modified Electroconvulsive Therapy (MECT), repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) are increasingly introduced into research and experimental stages, but these physical Therapy methods have certain defects, such as MECT with transient memory impairment, relatively short duration of rTMS therapeutic effect, and risk of epilepsy induction, VNS is invasive Therapy, requires an implanted stimulator, and the above methods all require assistance from a professional, which limits further application. Compared with electromagnetic stimulation, phototherapy has the advantages of high safety, low risk, easiness in operation and the like. Therefore, in recent years, leading-edge studies for treating psychological diseases such as depression with near-infrared light have been conducted at home and abroad, and at present, although there are some results of the studies, clinical results of human subjects are few, and particularly, data on treatment parameters such as specific wavelength, power, irradiation site, and the like and correspondence between the treatment parameters and the treatment effect are lacking.

At present, few light treatment devices aiming at depression are available in the market, the light average power density of near infrared light of the light treatment devices in the prior art is low, energy deposition of the near infrared light on brain tissue is low after the near infrared light penetrates through skull, a good light treatment effect is difficult to achieve, the comfort level of the devices is poor, and the experience of patients is also poor.

In addition, near infrared light can also be used for treating mental diseases such as autism, bipolar disorder and bipolar disorder, and a small number of related reports are available at home and abroad.

Disclosure of Invention

The present application is provided to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art. There is a need for a light treatment apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression, which can effectively treat psychological diseases such as depression, improve comfort of patients, improve treatment compliance of patients, prolong single treatment time, and ensure good treatment effects on psychological diseases such as depression.

According to a first aspect of the present application, there is provided a light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression, comprising a housing configured to receive a head of a patient; an array of near-infrared illumination units disposed in the mask body, the array of near-infrared illumination units configured to emit an average power density of greater than 40mW/cm toward the head of the patient ² Has an average power density of 80mW/cm for emitting near-infrared light to the frontal and temporal lobes of the head, at least in the case of treatment of depression ² -200mW/cm ² (ii) a And a cooling mechanism including a refrigerator and a passage that delivers cool air generated by the refrigerator to the head of the patient to dissipate heat of the head of the patient.

Utilize according to the light treatment equipment who is used for treating psychological diseases including depression according to each embodiment of this application, adopt high average power density to carry out effective treatment to psychological diseases such as depression to come to dispel the heat to patient's head through cooling mechanism, can improve patient's comfort level, promote patient's treatment compliance, extension single treatment time ensures the good treatment to psychological diseases such as depression.

Drawings

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like reference numerals may describe similar components in different views. The drawings illustrate various embodiments generally by way of example and not by way of limitation, and together with the description and claims serve to explain the disclosed embodiments. The same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts, where appropriate. Such embodiments are illustrative, and are not intended to be exhaustive or exclusive embodiments of the present apparatus or method.

Fig. 1 (a) shows a schematic configuration diagram of a light treatment device for psychological disorders including depression according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1 (b) is a schematic configuration diagram showing an array of near-infrared irradiation units in a housing of a light treatment apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression;

fig. 1 (c) shows a schematic view of another headgear of a light treatment device for treating psychological disorders including depression;

FIG. 2 (a) is a graph showing a comparison of energy deposition conditions for various wavelengths of near infrared light to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) of persons of different ages in accordance with embodiments of the present application;

fig. 2 (b) shows a comparative graph of energy deposition on the ventral prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in persons of different ages irradiated with near infrared light of various wavelengths according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 shows a graphical representation of absorption curves of near infrared light of different wavelengths in water, deoxyhemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic distribution of various brain regions of a patient's whole brain according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 shows a side view of a headgear of a light treatment device for treating psychological disorders including depression according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 shows a schematic general configuration of a light treatment apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the power variation of alpha waves in the brain electrical signal of a depressed patient before and after the light treatment of the depressed patient by the light treatment device according to the embodiment of the present application; and

fig. 8 shows a comparative chart of scores using different depression assessment scales before and after light treatment of a depressed patient with a light treatment device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical solutions of the present application better understood, the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description. The embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments, but the present application is not limited thereto. The order in which the various steps described herein are described as examples should not be construed as a limitation if there is no requirement for a context relationship between each other, and one skilled in the art would know that sequential adjustments may be made without destroying the logical relationship between each other, rendering the overall process impractical.

As used in this application, the terms "first," "second," and the like, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element preceding the word comprises the element listed after the word, and does not exclude the possibility that other elements may also be included. The term "head" as used in this application means an organ above the neck (cervical spine) of the human body, including the brain and extracerebral tissues such as the skull, skin and hair. The term "brain" used in the present application means an organ left by removing tissue and the like outside the brain, and is mainly intended to mean the brain, but is not limited thereto, and may include the brain, cerebellum, brainstem and the like.

The research team of the present applicant has conducted intensive research on the treatment of psychological diseases including depression with near infrared light and light therapy equipment, and conducted a great number of simulation experiments and clinical experiments, and not only demonstrated the theoretical and practical feasibility of light therapy equipment for psychological diseases including depression, but also focused on and intensively studied the specific psychological needs and physiological needs of psychological disease patients including depression for various courses of disease in clinical experiments of these patients. The application provides a light treatment equipment for treating psychological diseases including depression, which not only can effectively treat psychological diseases such as depression, but also can obviously improve comfort of patients and prolong single treatment time so as to ensure good treatment effect on psychological diseases including depression.

Fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b) show a configuration diagram of a light treatment apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression and a configuration diagram of an array of near-infrared irradiation units in a housing of the light treatment apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression according to an embodiment of the present application, respectively. As shown in fig. 1 (a), the light therapy device includes a head cap having a housing 1 capable of accommodating the head of a patient, and as shown in fig. 1 (b), the light therapy device further includes an array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 arranged in the housing 1. As an example, as shown in fig. 1 (b), each near-infrared irradiation unit 2 may include a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a. In some embodiments, each near-infrared illumination unit 2 may include a single near-infrared light emitting diode 2a. The array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 is configured to emit an average power density of more than 40mW/cm to the head of the patient ² Near infrared light. Researches show that the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe of a depression patient are often abnormal in structure, function, connection and the like in different degrees, and clinical experimental researches prove that the inventor can bring better treatment effect by adopting higher average power density to treat psychological diseases such as depression and the like under the condition of ensuring safety and comfort of the patient. Thus, at least in the case of treatment of depression, it may emit a higher mean power density, such as 80mW/cm, to the brain regions associated with the depression, for example the frontal and temporal lobes of the head ² -200mW/cm ² Near infrared light. It is to be understood that the term "average power density" as used in this application denotes the amount of energy per unit area irradiated by the near infrared light per unit time.

It should be noted that the brain region associated with a specific psychological disease may be a pathological brain region that definitely causes the psychological disease of a patient, a related brain region that easily causes the psychological disease, or a brain region adjacent to the pathological brain region or the related brain region or having a strong brain function connection, that is, the associated brain region is a subject of light treatment for the psychological disease, and may also be referred to as a target brain region corresponding to the psychological disease.

In some embodiments, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 includes groups of near-infrared irradiation units arranged corresponding to respective brain regions of the head, for example, each group of near-infrared irradiation units may be composed of a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a. In some embodiments, the brain area may be divided according to frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, etc., or may be divided according to a more subdivided manner of left frontal lobe, right frontal lobe, left temporal lobe, right temporal lobe, left parietal lobe, right parietal lobe, left occipital lobe, right occipital lobe, hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, etc., or according to the actual need of phototherapy, which is not limited in this application. In some embodiments, in the case of treating depression, whole brain irradiation may be performed, and emphasis irradiation may be performed on the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe, for example, such that the average power density of near-infrared light emitted by the near-infrared irradiation unit groups corresponding to the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe is higher than the average power density of near-infrared light emitted by the near-infrared irradiation unit groups corresponding to other brain regions, thereby ensuring the pertinence of treatment for depression and good treatment effect. In other embodiments, only the target brain region having a closer association with depression may be irradiated, for example, the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe may be irradiated with high average power density only by using the near infrared light emitted by the near infrared irradiation unit groups corresponding to the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe, and the light treatment device shown in fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b) of the present application is used for irradiating the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe.

In the case of treating depression, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 is configured to emit near-infrared light to at least part of nodes of a brain network including at least one of a default network, a highlight network, and a central execution network. It can be understood that the brain network may include a plurality of nodes using brain regions as nodes, each node corresponds to a different brain region, or a plurality of nodes may be provided on one brain region, the node pairs have functional connections therebetween, and the functional connection strength between the node pairs may be used to characterize cooperative work between brain regions, information transfer, and the like.

In particular, studies have demonstrated that default networks, prominent networks, and central executive networks are all associated with the development of depression. The default network is responsible for not only the situational memory, consciousness and sensory perception of the individual, but also for monitoring the surrounding environment, handling the individual's self-referential thinking, etc. Since the functional connection strength between the cingulate cortex and/or anterior cuneiform lobe and other brain regions in the default network of the depression patient is significantly reduced compared to a healthy person, the array of the near-infrared irradiation units 2 may be configured to emit near-infrared light to nodes having a functional connection strength lower than a first predetermined level among the nodes of the default network, so as to improve the ability of the patient to memorize, perceive, and the like.

The nodes of the salient network mainly comprise frontal lobe, islet cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, amygdala, temples and other brain areas, and have the capability of integrating and extracting information. Information integration and reduction of subjective transformation ability in depression patients are closely related to the abnormality of the prominent network. Research shows that the grey matter of amygdala of depression patients is reduced relative to healthy people, and under the condition that the nodes of the highlighting network comprise the amygdala, the array of the near-infrared irradiation units is constructed to emit near-infrared light to the nodes of which the functional connection strength is lower than a second preset level in the node pairs of the highlighting network, so that the information integration and the subjective transformation capability of the depression patients are improved, and the treatment effect of the light treatment equipment on depression can be improved.

In the case of treating depression, the array of near-infrared irradiation units is configured to emit near-infrared light to nodes of node pairs of the central execution network, the intensity of the functional connection of which is lower than a third predetermined level and/or higher than a fourth predetermined level, so that the treatment task and decision-making capability of the depression patient can be improved in a targeted manner.

In some embodiments, a cloth corresponding to each brain region of the head is includedThe light therapy device of the near-infrared irradiation unit group can also be used for treating autism. In each age group of an autistic patient, there are different degrees of abnormalities of structure, function, connection and the like of frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum and the like, and similar to the treatment of depression, the treatment of autism also requires a higher average power density, and in order to achieve a better treatment effect, even a higher average power density is required to irradiate the brain area associated with autism. Therefore, the light treatment device of the present application can make the average power density of the near-infrared light emitted by the near-infrared irradiation unit group corresponding to the brain region associated with autism 100mW/cm in the case of treating autism ² -200mW/cm ² . Wherein the brain region associated with autism includes at least one of frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus, amygdala, and corpus callosum, and thus, when such autistic patient is light-treated with the light-treatment device, the near-infrared light emitted from the near-infrared irradiation unit group corresponding to one or more brain regions of frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus, amygdala, and corpus callosum may have an average power density of 100mW/cm ² -200mW/cm ² . In other embodiments, the brain region associated with autism can be determined from brain functional and/or structural imaging of the head of the patient, or from a typing of autism, and then a targeted emission of 100mW/cm of average power density with the group of near-infrared illumination units corresponding to the associated brain region ² -200mW/cm ² The near-infrared irradiating unit group emits an average power density of 100mW/cm toward the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe ² -200mW/cm ² The near infrared light to achieve more accurate phototherapeutic effect for autism patients.

In some embodiments, when treating autism with the light treatment device, the local target of autism may also be treated in a targeted manner based on the brain network associated with autism, for example, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 is configured to emit near-infrared light to at least part of nodes of the brain network, wherein the nodes of the brain network include at least the dorsolateral prefrontal leaf and the amygdala, wherein the amygdala is highly associated with the development of autism, but the amygdala belongs to the deep nucleus group and is not easily irradiated by near-infrared light, but the dorsolateral prefrontal leaf is more easily irradiated by near-infrared light than the amygdala and there is a certain functional connection between the dorsolateral prefrontal leaf and the amygdala, and thus, the irradiation position and/or the preset average power density may be determined based on the functional connection strength of the dorsolateral prefrontal leaf and the amygdala, and the near-infrared irradiation may be performed to indirectly act on the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe which is more easily irradiated and has a certain functional connection with the amygdala to enable a better light treatment effect on autism to be obtained.

Specifically, the brain network abnormality of the autistic patient is also related to the age of the patient, and the functional connection strength between some node pairs of the brain network goes through the process from "connecting" to "disconnecting" in the process from the growth of the child to the adolescent or adult of the autistic patient, so that a more precise treatment plan can be determined for the age of the autistic patient. Therefore, for children with autism, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 may be configured to emit near-infrared light toward the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe and/or the amygdala in the case where the functional connection strength of the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe with the amygdala is higher than a fifth predetermined level.

For juvenile autism patients and/or adult autism patients, the array of near-infrared illumination units 2 may be configured to emit near-infrared light to nodes of the brain network nodes having a functional connection strength below a sixth predetermined level. Wherein, the node pairs of the brain network associated with autism may be frontal lobe-temporal lobe, occipital lobe-temporal lobe, temporal lobe-parietal lobe, etc.

In some embodiments, the light treatment device according to the present application may also be used for the treatment of bipolar disorder in which the mean power density of the near-infrared light emitted by the group of near-infrared illuminating units corresponding to the brain region associated with bipolar disorder is 100mW/cm ² -200mW/cm ² The brain regions associated with bipolar disorder may include frontal lobe and limbic brain regions, such as ventral prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, parietal sulcus, and the like。

It will be appreciated that, unlike other psychological conditions, bipolar disorders occur in different stages, including depressive and manic stages, and that the abnormal condition of the brain network may vary from stage to stage, e.g., targeted light irradiation treatment of the abnormal condition of the brain network in different stages may allow for more precise treatment of bipolar disorder. Studies have shown that abnormalities in the default network and the sensorimotor network (including brain regions such as the primary motor cortex, cingulate cortex, anterior motor cortex, and accessory motor region) are highly correlated with the development of bipolar disorder.

Thus, in some embodiments, in the case of treating bipolar disorder, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 may be configured to emit near-infrared light to at least part of nodes of at least one brain network of the default network and the sensorimotor network. Specifically, when the bipolar affective disorder patient is in the depressive phase, the array of the near-infrared irradiation units 2 may be configured to: transmitting near-infrared light to a node of the brain network whose functional connection strength is lower than a seventh predetermined level; and/or emitting near-infrared light to a node of the pair of nodes of the brain network having a functional connection strength higher than an eighth predetermined level when the patient with bipolar disorder is in the manic stage. Thus, accurate treatment of bipolar affective disorder can be achieved.

It is to be understood that the values or ranges of the predetermined levels related to the functional connection strength, such as "first predetermined level", "second predetermined level", and the like, used in the present application may be the same or different for the same psychological disease or different psychological diseases, and may be determined according to the clinical verification result, for example, for an autism patient, since the functional connection strength between the node pairs of the brain network of the autism patient may go from "connecting through" to "disconnecting" in the process from the child to the teenager or the adult, the fifth predetermined level may be set to a value higher than the functional connection strength between the brain network nodes of the healthy person, while the sixth predetermined level may be set to be much lower than the functional connection strength between the brain network nodes of the healthy person, even for the adult autism patient whose connection between the nodes has been lost, the sixth predetermined level may be set to 0.

It is understood that, when the brain network is used to perform the precise light therapy on the psychological diseases such as depression, autism, bipolar disorder, etc., the irradiation parameters of the near-infrared light may be specifically set according to the type of the disease, the degree of the disease, the functional connection between the nodes of the brain network, etc., and the present application is not limited thereto, wherein the irradiation parameters may include average power density, pulse frequency, etc.

In some embodiments, the mask 1 can loosely receive the head of a patient such that the head can rotate within a predetermined angular range and can move up and down within a predetermined distance range during treatment. Different from the head shape of adaptation in patient, a few several cm grades of space has been reserved between the cover body 1 and the patient's head, the space is preferably 1cm-2cm, make the patient can be according to the wish of oneself in predetermineeing the angle range and predetermineeing the head of distance within range activity oneself, this kind of open loose cover body 1 design does not have the constraint to patient's head and feels, make the patient comfort level in the treatment process higher, and have certain space that is used for the air conditioning diffusion between the cover body 1 and the patient's head, avoid air conditioning direct-flushing head to cause the discomfort for the patient, and can enlarge the cooling area, promote even cooling effect.

Moreover, the open and loose cover body 1 is particularly friendly to psychological patients suffering from psychological diseases, particularly depression patients who are easily triggered by external environments to cause mood or state of illness fluctuation, or psychological patients and the elderly who suffer from claustrophobia, so that the treatment compliance of psychological patients including depression, particularly elderly patients, can be remarkably improved. Specifically, the light treatment device can be used for treating a patient who suffers from psychological diseases including depression and has psychological disorders in the confined or crowded space, which itself falls into the category of psychological diseases, and the light treatment device of the cover body 1 does not induce an exacerbation of psychological disorders or psychological diseases in the patient, and thus does not affect the treatment of psychological diseases such as depression. This design of the mask body 1 can also be widely adapted to the behavioural characteristics of patients in different courses of psychological disease including depression. For example, in patients with mild or moderate depression, low mood and possibly with somatization symptoms such as chest distress and shortness of breath is easily accepted by patients and irritation is not easily caused by wearing the mask body 1 with sufficient freedom and openness, so that the patients can cooperate with the continuous progress of light therapy without aggravating the somatization symptoms of the patients. For another example, in the case of a patient with major depression, the mood fluctuates sharply, and the serious patient may have schizophrenia symptoms such as auditory hallucinations, delusions and personality disorder, in which case the patient is hard to keep his posture still, and the loose cover body 1 allows the head of the patient to shake to a certain extent without accompanying tremor of the cover body 1. Therefore, the patient does not need to be forcibly stopped from shaking slightly, the comfort of the patient is increased, the workload of medical care personnel is reduced, and meanwhile, the situation that the shaking of the head of the patient is transferred to the cover body 1 to influence the light treatment effect can be avoided. Thus, the light therapy device may be used to treat patients at various stages of the progression of a condition of a psychological disorder, including depression.

The loosely designed mask body 1 can make psychological patients with various disease courses including depression more willing to receive treatment, and a single irradiation can last longer, for example, each irradiation lasts for 20 minutes, 30 minutes or even longer, thereby further improving the treatment effect.

In other embodiments, another head cap of a light treatment device for treating psychological diseases including depression as shown in fig. 1 (c) may be employed, for example, in the case where the light treatment subject is younger and there is no psychological obstacle to the enclosed or crowded space. The head cap 100 of the light therapy apparatus shown in fig. 1 (c) includes a cover body 101, a head tightening device 102, and a light blocking member 103. The cover 101 is provided with an array of near-infrared irradiation units (not shown) for transmitting near-infrared light to the head. The head tightening device 102 is disposed at the lower portion of the inner side of the casing 101, and the head tightening device 102 includes a head cover 1021 and an adjusting member 1022 for tightening the head cover 1021 on the head. The light blocking member 103 is at least partially disposed in a gap between the head 1021 and the inside of the cover 101, and the light blocking member 103 extends downward with its lower side over the lower side of the head 1021 to block the leaked near-infrared light. In some embodiments, the portion of the inner lower portion of the cover 101 corresponding to the head tightening device 102 may be provided with a mounting layer, which facilitates the mounting of the head tightening device 102, such as the mounting layer is a hook and loop fastener, or the mounting layer is a cloth layer that can be connected to the head tightening device 102 by sewing. Specifically, the sleeve head 1021 may be annular and is sleeved on the head, and a through groove is formed in an inner portion of the sleeve head 1021 corresponding to the cover 101, and the through groove is used for enabling light emitted by the array of the near-infrared irradiation unit to be directly transmitted to the head, so as to prevent the sleeve head 1021 from enabling the light emitted by the array of the near-infrared irradiation unit to generate interference. Specifically, the adjusting element 1022 can tighten the head 1021, and can also keep the head 1021 in a fastened state after the head 1021 is tightened on the head, so that a stable relative position relationship between the headgear 100 and the head can be ensured, and the head shapes of different users can be adapted by adjusting the adjusting element 1022, thereby increasing the degree of adaptation of the headgear 100. For example, the light shielding member 103 may be made of an elastic material, and the shape of the light shielding member 103 may be adapted to the shape of the head. The cover body 101 can be stably sleeved on the head through the head tightening device 102, and the head cap can move along when the head moves in a preset range, so that the head cap 100 and the head can keep a stable relative position relationship, and the problem of dislocation between a light emitting area of an array of the near-infrared irradiation units arranged on the head cap 100 and a target brain area can be avoided, thereby ensuring a better treatment effect. Through the light-shielding piece 103 arranged in the gap between the head 1021 and the inner side of the cover body 101, the near infrared light can be effectively prevented from leaking between the head cap 100 and the head, a good light leakage prevention effect can be achieved by combining the light-shielding piece 103, the near infrared light is prevented from leaking out from the gap between the head cap 100 and the head tightening device 102, the human body is prevented from being injured, and the safety is higher.

In addition, the headgear 100 includes a mandibular tightening device 105 attached to a lower portion of the housing 101, the mandibular tightening device 105 including a mandibular strap 1051 attached to a lower portion of the housing 101 and a tightening member provided on the mandibular strap 1051. The hood 100 can keep a certain distance between the hood body 101 and the head when in use, and the arrangement of the jaw tightening device 105 is beneficial to the downward movement of the head, so that the head 100 can stably move downwards along with the head, the head can be further stably worn on the head, the effect that the head 100 follows the head is better realized, the use experience of a patient can be improved, and the hood is particularly popular among young patients (such as young patients suffering from depression) or patients who do not have requirements on restraint feeling. Other components of the headgear 100 in fig. 1 (c), such as the array of near-infrared irradiation units, the temperature reduction mechanism, and the like, are similar to those of the cover 1 in fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b), and are not described in detail herein.

It has been found that near infrared light with a first central wavelength in the range of 800nm to 820nm is the most suitable and effective wavelength for the treatment of psychological disorders including depression.

Fig. 2 (a) shows a comparison of the energy deposition condition of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) of the persons of different ages irradiated with the near infrared light of various wavelengths according to the embodiment of the present application and fig. 2 (b) shows a comparison of the energy deposition condition of the ventral prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) of the persons of different ages irradiated with the near infrared light of various wavelengths according to the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2 (a) and 2 (b), for energy deposition conditions in both cortical regions of dlPFC and vmPFC in the age range, the central wavelength of 810nm is better than the energy deposition conditions of 670nm, 850nm, 980nm, and 1064nm. The energy deposition conditions of single-wavelength near infrared light with the central wavelength of 800nm-820nm and other wavelength values can be better than those of 670nm, 850nm, 980nm and 1064nm compared with that of single-wavelength near infrared light with the central wavelength of 810nm.

The near-infrared irradiation unit 2 according to the embodiment of the present application irradiates with near-infrared light having a first center wavelength of 800nm to 820nm, and can obtain superior energy deposition compared to a peripheral wavelength range (e.g., 630nm to 750 nm) having a center wavelength of 670nm or a peripheral wavelength range (e.g., 900nm to 1020 nm) having a center wavelength of 980nm, thereby achieving superior therapeutic effects. Preferably, the first center wavelength used by the near-infrared irradiation unit 2 of the embodiment of the present application is 810nm. The single wavelength of about 810nm is intensively used for irradiation, so that the absorption effect of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin is better, the treatment effect is also better, the array cost of the near infrared irradiation unit 2 in the same wavelength range is lower, and the control is more convenient.

Fig. 3 shows a graphical representation of absorption curves of different wavelengths of near-infrared light in water, deoxyhemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin according to an embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 3, when the wavelength of 950nm to 1000nm is used, the absorbance of near infrared light in water is high, but the absorbance of near infrared light in deoxyhemoglobin is low, and is much lower than the absorbance of near infrared light having a wavelength of about 810nm in deoxyhemoglobin. It can also be seen from fig. 3 that the absorbance of near infrared light in the wavelength range of 800nm-820nm is relatively uniform in both deoxyhemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin and both are significantly higher than in water.

In the light treatment apparatus of the embodiment of the present application, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 is configured to emit a central wavelength of 800nm to 820nm and an average power density of more than 40mW/cm to the head of the patient ² So that sufficient light energy enters the brain. Furthermore, in the light treatment device of the embodiment of the present application, the cover body 1 does not adopt an adaptive design, but adopts a loose design that the head can freely move in the accommodating space, the gap between the cover body 1 and the head also causes scattering of the near infrared light, and scattering superposition of the near infrared light can enable each brain area position to have a higher average power density, further meeting the requirement of increasing the average power density, and further meeting the requirement of higher average power density on each brain area.

The inventor finds that for the light treatment device with loose design of the cover body 1, the single-wavelength near infrared light with the center wavelength of 800nm-820nm is more than 40mW/cm through simulation experiments and clinical experiments ² The average power density of (2) can ensure that enough light energy enters brain tissue and good effect is ensured even for patients of various ages suffering from psychological diseases such as depressionHas good treatment effect. In particular, the average power density employed may be 40mW/cm ² -200mW/cm ² E.g. 70mW/cm ² 、80mW/cm ² 、90mW/cm ² 、100mW/cm ² 、120mW/cm ² 、200mW/cm ² And the like. The frontal lobe is the brain region most highly correlated with depression, followed by the temporal lobe, and therefore, at least in the case of treating depression, it is preferable that the average power density of near-infrared light emitted to the frontal lobe of the head be 80mW/cm ² -200mW/cm ² . In another embodiment, an average power density of 80mW/cm may also be transmitted simultaneously to the frontal and temporal lobes together ² -200mW/cm ² To achieve a better light treatment effect on depression.

Greater than 40mW/cm ² Even if the air quantity is increased, the patient still feels uncomfortable temperature near the scalp and even intolerable scalding feeling, so that the patient cannot bear continuous treatment, and the head of the patient is also uncomfortable due to the excessive air quantity. Whereas for certain types of irradiation treatment, for example, for areas of intense brain interest, such as the frontal and temporal lobes, the required mean power density may be higher, for example up to 80mW/cm ² Above, even 200mW/cm ² . The array of near-infrared illumination units 2 may be configured to emit an average power density of less than 250mW/cm to the head of the patient, as evidenced by illumination of cortical cells in vitro via near-infrared light ² In this range, the average power density can avoid the risk of thermal damage, and avoid inhibition and mitochondrial damage.

In some embodiments, the average power density required for the near infrared light employed may be determined and adjusted according to the attributes and parameters of the patient. For example, the average power density is determined based on the light transmission of the patient's extrabrain tissue such that the average power density of a patient with low light transmission of the extrabrain tissue is higher than the average power density of a patient with high light transmission of the extrabrain tissue.

Considering mental disease patients of all ages, such as elderly patients with depression, children with autism, and the like, it is necessary to fully consider the sensitivity characteristics of the mental disease patients of all ages and different ages to temperature and pain, so as to provide a comfortable treatment environment without causing pain or even thermal injury for the mental disease patients, thereby prolonging the treatment time and achieving better treatment effect.

In other embodiments, the near-infrared light may also be near-infrared light of several wavelengths, and the several wavelengths may include a first center wavelength as a main center wavelength, and may include a second center wavelength and/or a third center wavelength as an auxiliary center wavelength on the basis of including the first center wavelength, where the second center wavelength is in a range of 600nm to 700nm, preferably, the second center wavelength is 633nm or 660nm, and the third center wavelength is in a range of 850nm to 1100nm, preferably, the third center wavelength is 980nm or 1064nm. Studies have shown that near infrared light in the second central wavelength range, e.g., 670nm, has a protective effect on nerves, and irradiation with 660nm near infrared light can reduce stress-induced pro-apoptotic responses by down-regulating the ratio of Bcl-2 Associated X protein (bax)/B-lymphoma-2 protein (B-cell lymphoma-2, bcl-2) and cytosolic/mitochondrial CCO (cytochrome oxidase). The near infrared light in the third central wavelength range can improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety and promote the memory. The use of near infrared light of the second/third center wavelength in combination with near infrared light of the first center wavelength can also increase the efficacy of the treatment of psychological disorders such as depression, for example, 1064nm near infrared light can increase the activity of CCO in mitochondria to improve attention, not to mention.

In the case where several wavelengths including the main center wavelength and the auxiliary center wavelength are simultaneously used, for example, the average power density of the near-infrared light of the main center wavelength may be set to be more than 2 times the average power density of the auxiliary center wavelength, so as to ensure that the near-infrared light of the main center wavelength has a sufficient average power density with a certain total energy.

In other embodiments, in the case where several wavelengths including the primary center wavelength and the secondary center wavelength are simultaneously applied, the average power density of the secondary center wavelength may also be set to be the same as or similar to the average power density of the near-infrared light of the primary center wavelength.

The light therapy device according to the embodiment of the present application further comprises a cooling mechanism 4 based on a refrigerator 3 to sufficiently dissipate heat of the head of the patient to well solve the above-mentioned problems. Specifically, referring back to fig. 1 (a), as shown in fig. 1 (a), the cooling mechanism 4 includes a refrigerator 3 and a passage that delivers cool air generated by the refrigerator 3 to the head of the patient. In some embodiments, cooling mechanism 4 further comprises a cool air delivery cavity 5 disposed in enclosure 1 adjacent to the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2, and a passage 7 leading from cool air delivery cavity 5 to the head of the patient, and cooling mechanism 4 is further configured to send cool air generated by refrigerator 3 into cool air delivery cavity 5 via cool air delivery conduit 12 and blow toward the head of the patient via passage 7 to dissipate heat from the head of the patient. In some embodiments, the cool air is gently blown to the head of the patient through the passage at a speed of 0.5-3.5m/s, which is comfortable for the patient and can secure a heat radiation effect. With such a cooling mechanism 4, in the case where the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 emits the near-infrared light together toward the head of the patient, the total power of the near-infrared light may be more than 3W. With such average power density and total power, the cooling mechanism 4 can still sufficiently dissipate heat from the patient's head such that the temperature near the patient's scalp is 18 degrees celsius to 43 degrees celsius. Specifically, the head of each patient can be in a more comfortable environment by using the cooling mechanism 4 according to the disease type or the age group of the patient, for example, for an elderly depression patient who has low sensitivity to temperature and pain and is afraid of cold, when performing phototherapy, the temperature near the scalp of the patient can be 25 to 40 degrees celsius by using the cooling mechanism 4; for adolescent depression patients or adult depression patients with low sensitivity to temperature and pain, the temperature near the scalp of the patients can be controlled to be 18-37 ℃ by using the cooling mechanism 4 when the phototherapy is carried out; for autistic child patients with high sensitivity to temperature and pain, the temperature near the scalp of such patients can be controlled to 18 to 35 degrees centigrade by the cooling mechanism 4 when performing light therapy. Thus, even patients with psychological disorders that are temperature sensitive and highly tolerated will feel comfortable and will continue to receive treatment. By matching the cooling structure 4 with the loose-design mask body 1 described above, patients with psychological diseases such as depression of various ages and courses can be more willing to receive continuous irradiation treatment, and a single irradiation can last for a longer time (the longer the time is, the higher the heat generation near the scalp is), so that the treatment effect is further improved.

As an example, the passage 7 may be formed by an air hole 6 on the inner side of the cold air transfer cavity 5 and a gap between the cover 1 and the head of the patient, as shown in fig. 1 (a), but this is merely an example, and the cold air transfer tube may be led out from the cold air transfer cavity 5 and transfer the cold air toward the head of the patient, and will not be described herein.

When the light treatment equipment is used for treating depression, treatment can be carried out on the forehead and the left and right temporal lobes, so that the near-infrared irradiation unit groups can be arranged only at the forehead and the left and right temporal lobes corresponding to the head so as to treat the forehead and the left and right temporal lobes of a patient. Further, after the array mode of the near-infrared irradiation unit group is determined, the arrangement mode of the air holes 6 can be determined according to the array mode of the near-infrared irradiation unit group, namely, the air outlet position of cold air is adjusted, so that the air volume and the air speed of the cold air discharged from the air holes 6 can be more suitable for patients suffering from the diseases.

The mask body 1 has a fixed configuration and dimensions to receive the patient's head in a loose manner such that the patient's head is laterally movably spaced 1cm-2cm apart during treatment. Specifically, the mask body 1 is constructed to allow a certain margin so that the mask body 1 can still cover the target brain area when the patient rotates within a predetermined angle range or moves up and down within a predetermined distance range, for example, it is necessary for the depression patient to keep covering the forehead and the left and right temporal lobes so that the target brain area can be irradiated with the array of the near infrared irradiation units 2 (see fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b)) if necessary. Further, the loose and open design of the mask body 1 can adopt a fixed and unchangeable structure and size for patients with individual differences in head shape and size to a certain extent, and the mask body 1 strictly matched with the head shape and size of the patient is not necessary to be customized for the individual patient, so that the mask body 1 can be manufactured in a standardized way, the manufacturing cost is lower, the patient-adaptive group of the light treatment equipment is wider, and the facility purchase and maintenance cost of the light treatment equipment in the use medical places such as hospitals, communities and families is reduced. In particular, by fixed construction and dimensions, it is meant that the cover 1 may be provided without moving parts and may even be moulded in one piece, thereby increasing the lifetime of the cover 1 and simplifying the construction of the cover 1.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic distribution diagram of individual brain regions of the cerebral cortex of a patient's whole brain according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, each brain area of the cerebral cortex mainly includes frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, cerebellum, and the like. The inventors found that, in treating psychological diseases including depression, making the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 emit near-infrared light together with a target brain region of the head of a patient, particularly at least near-infrared light together with the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus, which is also associated with the development of depression, can achieve better therapeutic effects. In some embodiments, especially when performing light therapy on an autism patient, the array of near-infrared illumination units 2 may also be caused to emit near-infrared light together for the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus, and amygdala. Specifically, the hippocampus, which is located between the thalamus and medial temporal lobe of the brain and is part of the limbic system, plays a role in short-term memory, long-term memory and spatial localization, and the amygdala, which is located on the dorsolateral medial anteriorly of the anterior temporal lobe and slightly anterior to the inferior horn tip of the hippocampus and lateral ventricle, is critical to fear. Hippocampus and amygdaloid are both closely related to a range of psychological diseases including depression and autism. The functions of the temporal lobe mainly include auditory perception, speech reception, visual memory, declarative (real) memory, emotional control, and the like. In particular, a patient with a right temporal lobe lesion often loses understanding of nonverbal auditory stimuli (e.g., music, etc.), while a left temporal lobe lesion affects the patient's perception of speech, memory, and organization. The frontal lobe is the physiological basis of the most complex psychological activities of people, is responsible for planning, regulating and controlling the psychological activities of people, plays an important role in high-level and target behaviors of people, and has close relation with high-level cognitive functions such as attention, memory, problem solving and the like and also has close relation with personality development.

By allowing the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 to emit near-infrared light together to the target brain region of the head of the patient, including at least the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, hippocampus and amygdala, comprehensive and comprehensive phototherapy can be performed on the cortical partition related to the lesion, thereby obtaining better therapeutic effect (as will be verified by clinical experiments and clinical data hereinafter). In some embodiments, such as irradiation of a plurality of brain regions, the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 may be configured to emit near-infrared light to the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe at a higher average power density than other brain regions, so that the treatment effect on the important frontal lobe and temporal lobe may be enhanced.

Fig. 5 shows a side view of a headgear of a light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the cover 1 may have a left-hand lug portion, which is hidden from view in FIG. 5 and not shown, and a right-hand lug portion 8, which is generally indicated by reference numeral 8 herein. Left side lobe part and right side lobe part 8 can cover respectively the temporal lobe of patient's left side and right side, left side lobe part and right side lobe part equipartition are equipped with near-infrared irradiation unit 2 respectively (as shown in fig. 1 (b)) in order to transmit near-infrared light to the temporal lobe region that covers. Referring to the brain area distribution shown in fig. 4, the temporal lobe extends toward the ear, and this extension can be covered by the left and right convex ears 8 and sufficiently irradiated with near infrared light.

In some embodiments, the left and right lug parts 8 may be configured to: under the condition that the head rotates within a preset angle range and moves up and down within a preset distance range in the treatment process, the near-infrared irradiation units 2 (shown in fig. 1 (b)) arranged on the left-side lug part and the right-side lug part 8 can still irradiate the temporal lobe of the patient. Specifically, the left and right lug parts 8 may be designed to extend to the peripheral area of the corresponding head of the temporal lobe, with margins associated with a preset angle range and a preset distance range being reserved with respect to the temporal lobe. In this way, even if the patient is to turn or move due to voluntary activities or uncontrollable tremor, the temporal lobe thereof can always be sufficiently irradiated, thereby ensuring the treatment effect.

The left and right convex ears 8 may extend toward and, in some embodiments, may extend downward below the ears of the patient, so that near-infrared light emitted by the near-infrared irradiation units 2 disposed on the left and right convex ears 8 may be irradiated not only to the left and right temporal lobes from all around but also to the hippocampus via the ear canals. Please note that the light transmission distance from the ear to the hippocampus and the amygdala is much smaller than the light transmission distance from the frontal lobe to the hippocampus and the amygdala, and the near infrared light attenuation of the ear canal is much smaller than that of the skull, so that the hippocampus and the amygdala deep in the brain can be fully irradiated by the near infrared light. The hippocampus is closely related to the development of mental diseases such as depression, autism and the like, and can reach the hippocampus and amygdala by leading enough near-infrared light energy to reach the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe and simultaneously, so that the functions of brain mitochondria and the level of ATP can be obviously improved, the damage to nerve cells is reduced, the repair and regeneration capacity of nerve tissues is improved, and the cognitive ability is improved.

In some embodiments, shield 1 includes a forehead portion 9 with a curvilinear engagement 10 between forehead portion 9 and left and right lugs 8 such that the lower edges of left, forehead and

right lugs

8, 9 and 8 are integrally connected in a curve to completely shield the left and right temporal lobes of the patient. As shown in the brain area distribution of fig. 4, a portion of the temporal lobe is near the temple, which can be masked by the curvilinear seam 10 and provide sufficient near infrared illumination. The inventor finds that with the development of mental diseases such as depression, the focus can spread to each part of the temporal lobe, and the peripheral and sufficient near infrared light irradiation is provided for each part, so that the more effective treatment effect can be achieved. Sometimes, the specific part of the temporal lobe where the focus is reached cannot be determined without brain function imaging, but for the patient, the cost for obtaining brain function imaging is high, in addition, the head shape, the size and the like of each patient are different, and when the light therapy equipment is actually worn, since the light therapy equipment is worn on the head of the patient, the medical staff, the patient or other accompanying staff are difficult to accurately judge the position of each brain area from the surface of the head positioned outside, each part where the focus is reached can be completely covered through the combined design of the left and right side convex ear parts 8 and the curve connection part 10, so that a more effective treatment effect is achieved, excessive attention of the accompanying staff or the patient is not required to be dispersed, and the workload can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the lower edge of the front portion of the mask body 1 is gently curved, and the middle portion of the lower edge extends downward relative to the side portions for guiding the user to wear the lower edge to the brow bone. The curve shape with the middle lower part and the two sides higher than each other is matched with the configuration of the eyebrow bone, and according to daily habits (such as the habits of wearing glasses), a user can naturally draw the lower edge of the curve shape close to the eyebrow bone, so that the complete forehead can be irradiated, and a doctor or a patient can visually confirm that the wearing position is proper. For a loosely designed mask body 1, this curved shape with a low middle and slightly higher sides will also guide the user's forehead to actively approach the mask body 1 when worn, which is suitable for a wearing position close enough to the forehead, since the frontal lobe is the major treatment area, and it is necessary to ensure the irradiation effect, while by placing the curved lower edge close to the brow bone, it is possible for both the patient and the doctor to confirm that the proper wearing position has been reached, and the patient will consciously remain in this proper wearing position.

Returning to fig. 1 (b), the included illumination parameters of each near-infrared illumination unit 2, including at least the average power density, can be adjusted independently. That is, the irradiation parameters are adjusted in units of the near-infrared irradiation unit 2, and the near-infrared irradiation unit 2 may include a group of a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a, so that the irradiation parameters of all the near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a are controlled with flexibility and efficiency. The irradiation parameters may include pulse frequency (components), waveform, duty ratio, and the like, in addition to the average power density. In some embodiments, the pulse frequency of at least some of the near-infrared irradiation units 2 can be independently adjusted, so that the targeted therapy for each brain region can be realized by setting different pulse frequencies for different brain regions.

The near-infrared light may include pulsed light. The present inventors found that the use of pulsed light of a single frequency in a frequency range of an α wave (for example, 10 Hz) or a γ wave (for example, 40 Hz) in an appropriate frequency range has a good irradiation effect. In some embodiments, irradiation may be performed using pulsed light containing at least two frequency components in a certain frequency range, and the irradiation effect may be superior to that using conventional single-frequency pulsed light in some cases. In some embodiments, the pulsed light comprises a pulsed wave component of a first pulse frequency of 7Hz-13Hz and/or a pulsed wave component of a second pulse frequency of 30Hz-80Hz. Preferably, the first pulse frequency is 10Hz and the second pulse frequency is 40Hz. The inventors have found that the use of appropriate waveforms, such as but not limited to alpha and gamma waves, provides better results than other waveforms. The pulsed light includes an α -wave frequency and a γ -wave frequency as a pulse wave component of a first pulse frequency and a pulse wave component of a second pulse frequency, respectively, and is formed by any one of the following manners. For example, the α wave and the γ wave may be aliased in synchronization to form the waveform of the pulsed light emitted from each near-infrared light emitting diode 2a. That is, each of the near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a directly emits a waveform obtained by synchronously aliasing both α waves and γ waves, thereby realizing a time-synchronized and spatially-coincident mixed waveform (a pulse wave obtained by aliasing both α waves and γ waves). For another example, the waveforms of the pulsed light emitted from the respective near-infrared light-emitting diodes 2a may be formed by combining the α -wave and the γ -wave in time division. That is, for the same near-infrared light emitting diode 2a, it may be lit at different time periods to alternately irradiate the α wave and the γ wave, which is a mixed mode of simple spatial coincidence. In some embodiments, each of the first group of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a may be controlled to emit pulsed light of α waves, and each of the second group of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a may emit pulsed light of γ waves in synchronization therewith, that is, the first and second groups of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a may be simultaneously lit at the same time period. Specifically, the near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a corresponding to different brain regions may be lighted at the same time period, which is a mixed mode only overlapping in time, so that pulse light of specific frequency and waveform may be provided to different brain regions.

In some embodiments, the pulse frequency of the near-infrared irradiation unit 2 is adjustable, wherein the adjustable range is 0Hz-100Hz, for example, near-infrared light with pulse frequency such as 8Hz, 10Hz, 30Hz, 40Hz is used for irradiation, etc., so that when the light therapy is performed by using the light therapy apparatus, the user can determine the pulse frequency more suitable according to the type of disease, the degree of illness, the target brain area, etc., so as to achieve better light therapy effect.

Turning now to fig. 1 (b), a specific implementation of the near-infrared irradiation unit 2 and the temperature reduction mechanism 4 in the head cap of the light therapy apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression is exemplified.

As shown in fig. 1 (b), the headgear may include a shell 1, the shell 1 receiving the head of the patient in a loose manner such that the head can rotate within a preset angular range and can move up and down within a preset distance range during treatment. The implementations of the mask body 1 described in connection with the light therapy device in the various embodiments of the present application may be incorporated herein and will not be described in detail herein.

The headgear 1 may include an array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 arranged in the enclosure 1, each near-infrared irradiation unit 2 may include a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a, and the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 is configured to emit near-infrared light toward the head of the patient. The implementation of the array of near-infrared illumination units 2 described in the various embodiments of the present application may be incorporated herein.

The headgear 1 is also provided with a cooling means for cooperating with an external refrigerator 3 and a cold air delivery line 12 to form a cooling mechanism 4 capable of sufficiently dissipating heat from the head of a patient. Specifically, as shown in fig. 1 (b), a cold air transfer cavity 5 and a passage 7 leading from the cold air transfer cavity 5 to the head of the patient are provided in the enclosure 1 adjacent to the array of the near-infrared irradiation units 2, so that cold air generated by the refrigerator 3 outside the headgear is sent into the cold air transfer cavity 5 (for example, via a cold air delivery pipe 12) and blown toward the head of the patient via the passage 7 to dissipate heat of the head of the patient.

With combined reference to fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b), the mask body 1 comprises an outer layer 12a and a transparent cover 13 as an inner layer, a cold air transmission cavity 5 is formed between the outer layer 12a and the transparent cover 13, and a plurality of vent holes 6 are opened on the transparent cover 13, so that each vent hole 6 together with a gap between the transparent cover 13 and the head of the patient forms a passage 7. It can be seen that the vent holes 6 can be arranged in groups, so that the cold air blown to the head from the periphery is distributed more uniformly, and psychological disease patients with sensitive temperature can feel comfortable and can be treated in a matched manner.

The near-infrared irradiation unit 2 may adopt various implementation manners, for example, may be a lamp panel 2b (as shown in fig. 1 (b)) carrying a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a, and the plurality of vent holes 6 are arranged in a distributed manner in groups (as shown in fig. 1 (a)), and may be implemented as a multi-point array, so that each group of vent holes 6 corresponds to each lamp panel 2b, respectively. The just right space portion of lamp plate 2b is that the intensification is more showing, and each group's air vent 6 that each lamp plate 2b was seted up just can carry cold air to high efficiency reduces the heat in this part space. In the case where the near-infrared irradiation unit 2 is implemented as a lamp panel 2b carrying a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes 2a, a near-infrared irradiation unit group arranged corresponding to each brain region of the head may be implemented correspondingly as being composed of one or more lamp panels 2b. In some embodiments, the irradiation parameters including the average power density of the lamp panels 2b in each near-infrared irradiation unit group may be independently controlled as a whole by a preset program, for example.

The outer layer 12a of the mask body 1 comprises a hot air extraction cavity 14, which hot air extraction cavity 14 houses at least an electric circuit 15 therein and communicates with the outside via an air inlet (not shown in the figures) and an air outlet 17, so that air introduced via the air inlet carries heat generated by the electric circuit 15 and is discharged to the outside via the air outlet 17. The inventors noted that the array of near-infrared irradiation units 2 was configured to have an average power density of more than 40mW/cm ² Under the circumstances, the heat production of circuit 15 also can be very high, and the sometimes local heat production of circuit 15 is showing to be higher than near-infrared emitting diode 2a light and heat conversion's heat production, has consequently set up hot gas respectively and has extracted inner chamber 14 and has come the heat of discharging away high-efficiently to avoid the local heat production of circuit 15 to conduct near-infrared emitting diode 2a side or even head side in a large number, and then promote the radiating efficiency. In some embodiments, the outer side of the circuit 15 may be provided with a heat conducting sheet to guide heat to be discharged to the outside.

In some embodiments, the hot gas extraction lumen 14 and the cold gas delivery lumen 5 are independent of each other. In this way, it is possible to avoid the heat generation of the circuit 15 from spreading to the cold air transfer cavity 5, thereby adversely affecting the heat dissipation effect to the gap between the head and the transparent cover 13.

As shown in fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b), the cool air transfer cavity 5 has a transparent partition 18 on an outer side, and the respective lamp panels 2b are located on the outer side of the transparent partition 18. Transparent baffle 18 can separate hot gas extraction inner chamber 14 and cold air transmission inner chamber 5 completely, so, can avoid the cold air of transmission to enter into hot gas extraction inner chamber 14, lets cold air can act on the clearance between head and the translucent cover 13 to a great extent, promotes the radiating effect to the clearance.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic general configuration of a light treatment apparatus for treating psychological diseases including depression according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the light therapy device may further comprise a user terminal 19, said user terminal 19 may be configured to be interactively operated by a user. A computer storage medium may be configured in the user terminal 19 having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform various interaction steps with the user. The storage medium may include read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, random Access Memory (RAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) such as Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM, static memory (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory), etc., on which the computer-executable instructions may be stored in any format.

In some embodiments, the user terminal 19 may be configured to: acquiring physiological parameters of the patient including age and/or light transmittance of extracerebral tissue and psychological disease-related information characterizing the type of psychological disease and/or associated brain region; generating a suggested infrared light treatment plan for the patient based on the acquired physiological parameters of the patient and the mental disease related information, and displaying the suggested infrared light treatment plan to a user.

In some embodiments, the user terminal 19 is further configured to receive a confirmation operation of the user to the suggested infrared light treatment plan; upon receiving the confirmation operation, each near-infrared irradiation unit 2 (shown in fig. 1 (a) and 1 (b)) performs irradiation according to the confirmed infrared light treatment protocol.

Specifically, a controller (not shown) for controlling the irradiation may be located on the user terminal 19 or at the head cap, and an execution instruction including confirmation of the infrared light treatment plan is issued by the user terminal 19 to the controller at the head cap. The controller may be implemented by various processors, and may be a processing device including one or more general-purpose processing devices, such as a microprocessor, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or the like. More specifically, the processor may be a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) microprocessor, very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) microprocessor, processor running other instruction sets, or processors running a combination of instruction sets. The processor may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a system on a chip (SoC), or the like. Preferably, most of the computation and processing is concentrated at the user terminal 19, reducing the computation load and hardware and software costs of the headgear.

In some embodiments, the light therapy device further includes a support 20, as shown in fig. 6, the cover 1 is connected to the support 20 through an elastic member 21, and the elastic member 21 provides a certain movement margin for the head of the AD patient during the therapy process, so that the freedom of movement of the head of the AD patient is higher, the comfort level can be improved, and the use experience can be improved.

The inventor carries out clinical experiments on depression by using the light treatment device of the embodiment of the application, and fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of power change of alpha waves in brain electrical signals of a depression patient before and after the light treatment of the depression patient by using the light treatment device of the embodiment of the application. During treatment, the average power density of near-infrared light emitted to the forehead and the temporal lobe of a patient by the light treatment device according to the embodiment of the application is more than 80mW/cm ² The pulse frequency used is 10Hz, preferably about 90mW/cm ² -120mW/cm ² Wherein the light average power density of most regions is 100mW/cm ² The above. In fig. 7, the intensity of the α wave power is represented by light and dark, and a brighter portion indicates a weaker α wave power, and a darker portion indicates a stronger α wave power. As can be seen from fig. 7, for the same patient, the power intensity of the α wave in the electroencephalogram signal on the front side of the left part (i.e., before treatment using the light treatment device) is weak as a whole, the power intensity of the α wave in the electroencephalogram signal on the rear side of the right part (i.e., after treatment using the light treatment device) is greatly enhanced as a whole, and the α wave is the main expression of the electrical activity when the cerebral cortex is in the waking and relaxing state, so that it can be seen that the light treatment device according to the embodiment of the present application has a significant therapeutic effect on the patient with depression.

Fig. 8 shows a comparative chart of scoring with different depression assessment scales before and after light treatment of a depressed patient with a light treatment device according to an embodiment of the present application, and it can be seen from fig. 8 that before light treatment without a light treatment device according to an embodiment of the present application, the patient had a HAMD (Hamilton depression scale) score of 22, a HAMA (Hamilton anxiety scale) score of 21, and a CSDD (Cornell dementia depression scale) score of 20, and after a period of time (about one and a half months) of treatment the same patient was again scored, with a HAMD depression score of 6, a HAMA anxiety score of 7, and a CSDD dementia score of 7, wherein higher scores of the above scales indicate that the patient is more severe, and lower scores of the patient indicate less severe, that is, each score is correspondingly greatly reduced. Data provided by the national psychiatric rating table collaboration group, wherein one recommended evaluation criterion is: a HAMD score above 35 points may be major depression, above 20 points may be mild or moderate depression, and below 8 points no depressive symptoms are considered; a HAMA score above 29 points may be considered severe anxiety, a score above 21 points is certainly significant anxiety, a score above 14 points is certainly anxious, a score above 7 points may be anxious, and a score below 7 points may be considered as no anxiety symptoms; the CSDD score was severe above 12, mild 8-12 and normal below 8. As can be seen from this, through the light treatment by the light treatment device according to the embodiment of the present application, the patient is shifted from moderate or severe to almost no symptom at each evaluation angle of HAMD, HAMA, CSDD, and therefore, the light treatment device according to the embodiment of the present application has a very significant efficacy on the depression patient at each evaluation angle.

Moreover, although exemplary embodiments have been described herein, the scope thereof includes any and all embodiments based on the present application with equivalent elements, modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of various embodiments across), adaptations or alterations. The elements of the claims are to be interpreted broadly based on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examples described in the present specification or during the prosecution of the application, which examples are to be construed as non-exclusive. It is intended, therefore, that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims and their full scope of equivalents.

The above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more versions thereof) may be used in combination with each other. For example, other embodiments may be used by those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the above description. In addition, in the above detailed description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the application. This should not be interpreted as an intention that a disclosed feature not claimed is essential to any claim. Rather, subject matter of the present application can lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description as examples or embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment, and it is contemplated that these embodiments may be combined with each other in various combinations or permutations. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

The above embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the present invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims. Various modifications and equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the present application and such modifications and equivalents should also be considered as falling within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A light therapy device for treating psychological disorders including depression, comprising:

a mask configured to receive a head of a patient;

an array of near-infrared illumination units disposed in the mask body, the array of near-infrared illumination units configured to emit an average power density of greater than 40mW/cm toward the head of the patient ² Has an average power density of 80mW/cm, at least in the case of depression treatment, for emitting near-infrared light to the frontal lobe of the head ² -200mW/cm ² (ii) a And

a cooling mechanism including a refrigerator and a passage that delivers cool air generated by the refrigerator to the head of the patient to dissipate heat of the head of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1Light therapy device, characterized in that said array of near infrared illumination units is configured to emit 80mW/cm together to the frontal and temporal lobes of the patient's head ² -200mW/cm ² Near infrared light.

3. The light treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the array of near-infrared irradiation units includes a group of near-infrared irradiation units arranged corresponding to respective brain regions of the head, irradiation parameters including power density of the respective near-infrared irradiation units being independently controllable.

4. The light treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further used for treating autism, in which case the average power density of near-infrared light emitted by the near-infrared irradiation unit group corresponding to the brain region associated with autism is 100mW/cm ² -200mW/cm ² 。

5. The light therapy device of claim 4, wherein the brain region associated with autism includes at least one of a frontal lobe, a temporal lobe, a hippocampus, an amygdala, and a corpus callosum.

6. The light treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein in the case of treating depression, the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to emit near-infrared light to at least a portion of nodes of a brain network, the brain network including at least one of a default network, a highlighting network, and a central execution network.

7. The light therapy device of claim 6, wherein the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to:

transmitting near-infrared light to a node of the default network whose functional connection strength is below a first predetermined level, wherein,

the nodes of the default network include at least one of a cingulate cortex and a cuneiform lobe.

8. The light therapy device of claim 6, wherein the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to: transmitting near-infrared light to a node of the pair of nodes of the prominent network having a functional connection strength below a second predetermined level, wherein,

the nodes of the highlight network at least comprise amygdala.

9. The light therapy device of claim 6, wherein the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to: transmitting near-infrared light to a node of the pair of nodes of the central execution network whose functional connection strength is below a third predetermined level and/or above a fourth predetermined level.

10. The light treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the array of near-infrared irradiation units emits near-infrared light to the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe in the case of treatment of autism.

11. The light therapy device according to claim 1, wherein in case of treating autism, the array of near-infrared irradiation units is configured to:

emitting near-infrared light to at least part of nodes of a brain network, wherein the nodes of the brain network at least comprise dorsolateral prefrontal lobes and amygdala;

the array of near-infrared illumination units is further configured to: determining an irradiation location and/or a preset average power density based on the functional connection strength of the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe with the amygdala.

12. The light therapy device of claim 11, wherein, for a child suffering from autism,

the array of near-infrared illumination units is further configured to: emitting near-infrared light to the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe and/or the amygdala if a functional connection strength of the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe with the amygdala is above a fifth predetermined level.

13. The light therapy device according to claim 11, characterized in that for juvenile autism patients and/or adult autism patients,

the array of near-infrared illumination units is further configured to: transmitting near-infrared light to a node of the brain network nodes whose functional connection strength is below a sixth predetermined level.

14. The light treatment device according to claim 1, further used for treating bipolar disorder, wherein in the case of treating bipolar disorder, the group of near-infrared illumination units corresponding to the brain region associated with bipolar disorder emits near-infrared light having an average power density of 100mW/cm ² -200mW/cm ² Wherein, in the process,

the brain regions associated with bipolar disorder include at least frontal lobe and limbic brain regions.

15. Light treatment device according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the case of treatment of bipolar affective disorders,

the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to emit near-infrared light to at least a portion of nodes of a brain network including at least one of a default network and a sensorimotor network.

16. The light therapy device of claim 15, wherein the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to:

emitting near-infrared light to a node of the brain network having a functional connection strength below a seventh predetermined level when the patient with bipolar disorder is in a depressive phase; and/or

Emitting near-infrared light to a node of the pair of nodes of the brain network having a functional connection strength higher than an eighth predetermined level when the bipolar affective disorder patient is in a manic period.

17. The light treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the enclosure loosely receives the head of the patient such that the head is rotatable within a predetermined angular range and movable up and down within a predetermined distance range during treatment.

18. The light therapy device of claim 1, wherein the cover has a fixed configuration and size.

19. The light therapy device of claim 1, further comprising:

the head tightening device is arranged at the lower part of the inner side of the cover body and comprises a sleeve head part and an adjusting part for tightening the sleeve head part on the head part;

a light blocking member that is at least partially disposed in a gap between the ferrule portion and an inner side of the cover body, and that extends downward with its underside beyond an underside of the ferrule portion to block leaked near-infrared light.

20. The light therapy device of claim 1, further comprising:

the lower jaw tightening device is connected to the lower portion of the cover body and comprises a lower jaw belt connected to the lower portion of the cover body and a tightening piece arranged on the lower jaw belt.

21. The light therapy device according to any one of claims 1-20, wherein said cover body has a left-side and a right-side ear portions for covering the left and right temporal lobes, respectively, of said patient, each of said left-side and right-side ear portions being uniformly provided with a near-infrared irradiation unit for emitting said near-infrared light to the covered temporal lobe region.

22. The light treatment apparatus of claim 21, wherein the left and right lug portions are configured to extend downward below the patient's ear.

23. The light treatment apparatus of claim 21, wherein the mask body includes a forehead portion and a curvilinear engagement portion between the forehead portion and the left and right lobe portions, such that lower edges of the left, forehead and right lobe portions are integrally connected in a curve to completely mask the left and right temporal lobes of the patient.

24. The light treatment apparatus of claim 21, wherein the left and right lug portions are configured to: in the treatment process the head is at the rotation of predetermineeing the angular range and under the condition that reciprocates in predetermineeing the distance range, left side lobe of a tongue portion with the near-infrared irradiation unit of laying on the right side lobe of a tongue portion still can shine patient's temporal lobe.

25. A light treatment device as claimed in any one of claims 1-24, characterized in that the lower edge of the front part of the housing is gently curved, and a middle part of the lower edge extends downwards relative to the two side parts for guiding a user to wear the lower edge to the brow bone.

26. The light therapy device of any one of claims 1-24, wherein the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to emit an average power density of less than 250mW/cm to the head of the patient ² Near infrared light.

27. Light treatment device according to any one of claims 1-24, characterized in that the average power density is determined from at least one of the following parameters of the patient:

the average power density of the patient with low light transmission of the tissue outside the brain is higher than the average power density of the patient with high light transmission of the tissue outside the brain.

28. Light treatment device according to any one of claims 1-24, characterized in that the irradiation parameters of at least part of the near infrared irradiation units, including the pulse frequency, are independently adjustable.

29. A light treatment device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 24, further comprising a user terminal configured to: acquiring physiological parameters and mental disease related information of the patient, wherein the physiological parameters comprise age and/or light transmittance of tissues outside the brain, and the mental disease related information represents the type of mental disease and/or associated brain areas; generating a suggested infrared light treatment plan for the patient based on the acquired physiological parameters of the patient and the mental disease related information, and displaying the suggested infrared light treatment plan to a user.

30. The light therapy device of claim 29, wherein the user terminal is further configured to receive a confirmation operation of the user to the suggested infrared light therapy regimen; after receiving the confirmation operation, each near-infrared irradiation unit performs irradiation according to the confirmed infrared light treatment plan.

31. A light treatment device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 30, characterized in that the individual treatment time of the light treatment device on the patient can be up to 20 minutes or more.

32. A phototherapy device as claimed in any one of the claims 1-31, characterized in that the near-infrared light is pulsed light, the irradiation parameters of the near-infrared irradiation unit further comprising a pulse frequency, the pulsed light comprising a pulse wave component of a first pulse frequency and/or a pulse wave component of a second pulse frequency, the first pulse frequency being 7Hz-13Hz and the second pulse frequency being 30Hz-100Hz.

33. The phototherapy device of claim 32 wherein the first pulse frequency is 10Hz and the second pulse frequency is 40Hz.

34. A phototherapy device as claimed in claim 32, wherein each near-infrared irradiation unit comprises a plurality of near-infrared light emitting diodes, the pulsed light comprises a pulse wave component of a first pulse frequency and a pulse wave component of a second pulse frequency as an alpha wave frequency and a gamma wave frequency, respectively, and is formed by any one of:

the waveform of the pulse light emitted by each near-infrared light-emitting diode is formed by synchronously aliasing alpha waves and gamma waves;

the wave form of the pulse light emitted by each near-infrared light-emitting diode is formed by the time division combination of alpha wave and gamma wave;

each near-infrared light emitting diode in the first group of near-infrared light emitting diodes emits pulsed light of alpha waves, each near-infrared light emitting diode in the second group of near-infrared light emitting diodes emits pulsed light of gamma waves, and the two groups of near-infrared light emitting diodes synchronously emit pulsed light.

35. A phototherapy device as claimed in any one of the claims 1-31, characterized in that said near infrared light is pulsed light, the irradiation parameters of said near infrared irradiation unit further comprising an adjustable pulse frequency, said adjustable range of pulse frequency being 0Hz-100Hz.

36. A phototherapy device as claimed in any one of claims 1-31, wherein the array of near-infrared illumination units is configured to emit near-infrared light with a first central wavelength in the range 800nm-820nm towards the head of the patient.

37. The light treatment apparatus of claim 36, wherein the first center wavelength is 810nm.

38. A phototherapy device according to any one of claims 1-36, wherein the near infrared light is near infrared light of several wavelengths, the several wavelengths including a first center wavelength having a wavelength between 800nm and 820nm and including a second center wavelength and/or a third center wavelength, wherein the second center wavelength is in a range between 600nm and 700nm and the third center wavelength is in a range between 850nm and 1100nm.

39. A light treatment device according to claim 38, characterized in that in case of treatment of depression several wavelengths comprise a first center wavelength as a main center wavelength and a second center wavelength and/or a third center wavelength as an auxiliary center wavelength, wherein the second center wavelength is 633nm or 660nm and the third center wavelength is 980nm or 1064nm.

40. The light treatment apparatus of claim 38, wherein the average power density of the near-infrared light of the primary center wavelength is more than 2 times the average power density of the secondary center wavelength.

41. The light treatment apparatus of any one of claims 1-31, wherein the cooling mechanism further comprises a cold air delivery lumen in the enclosure disposed adjacent to the array of near-infrared irradiation units, and a passage leading from the cold air delivery lumen to the head of the patient, and is configured to send cold air generated by a refrigerator into the cold air delivery lumen and blow toward the head of the patient via the passage to dissipate heat from the head of the patient.

42. The light treatment apparatus of any one of claims 1-31, wherein the cooling mechanism dissipates heat from the patient's head such that the temperature near the patient's scalp is between 18 degrees celsius and 43 degrees celsius.

43. A light treatment device according to any one of claims 1-31, wherein the housing comprises an outer layer and a transparent cover as an inner layer, a cool air transmission cavity is formed between the outer layer and the transparent cover, and a plurality of vent holes are provided in the transparent cover, so that each vent hole together with a space between the transparent cover and the patient's head constitutes the passage.

44. A phototherapy device as claimed in claim 43, wherein the near-infrared irradiation unit is a lamp panel carrying a plurality of near-infrared LEDs, and the plurality of air holes are arranged in groups so that each group of air holes corresponds to each lamp panel.

45. A phototherapy device as claimed in claim 43, wherein the outer layer of the mask body comprises a hot air extraction lumen which houses at least the electrical circuit therein and communicates with the environment via an air inlet and an air outlet, such that air introduced via the air inlet carries heat generated by the electrical circuit and is discharged to the environment via the air outlet.

46. The light treatment apparatus of claim 45, wherein the hot gas extraction lumen and the cold gas delivery lumen are independent of each other.

47. A light treatment device as claimed in claim 44, wherein the cold gas delivery lumen has a transparent partition on the outside, each lamp panel being located on the outside of the transparent partition.

48. A light treatment device according to any one of claims 1-31, characterized in that the velocity of the wind with which cold air is blown via said passage to the patient's head is 0.5-3.5 m/s.

49. The light treatment apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a bracket, wherein the cover is connected to the bracket by a resilient member.