Functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies in children

Yushiro Yamashita,Hidetaka Tanaka,Toyojiro Matsuishi,Shinichiro Nagamitsu

doi:10.1186/1751-0759-6-7

Abstract

Psychosomatic and developmental behavioral medicine in pediatrics has been the subject of significant recent attention, with infants, school-age children, and adolescents frequently presenting with psychosomatic, behavioral, and psychiatric symptoms. These may be a consequence of insecurity of attachment, reduced self-confidence, and peer -relationship conflicts during their developmental stages. Developmental cognitive neuroscience has revealed significant associations between specific brain lesions and particular cognitive dysfunctions. Thus, identifying the biological deficits underlying such cognitive dysfunction may provide new insights into therapeutic prospects for the management of those symptoms in children. Recent advances in noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, and especially functional near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), have contributed significant findings to the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience in pediatrics. We present here a comprehensive review of functional NIRS studies of children who have developed normally and of children with psychosomatic and behavioral disorders.

Highlights

The medical management and treatment of children with psychosomatic, behavioral, and psychiatric disorders have gained recent attention among pediatricians because of the increased number of such patients visiting outpatient clinics
As most pediatricians are not accustomed to examining these children, the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Pediatrics has published clinical practice guidelines, which provide recommendations for the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric psychosomatic disorders in primary care settings [2]
Advances in functional neuroimaging have revealed how localized cortical activity may be associated with behavioral responses during early human development and the impaired neural substrates in behavioral and cognitive dysfunction observed in child psychosomatic or psychiatric disorders

Summary

Introduction

The medical management and treatment of children with psychosomatic, behavioral, and psychiatric disorders have gained recent attention among pediatricians because of the increased number of such patients visiting outpatient clinics. Uehara et al [12] reported lower activation and a gradual increases in oxy-Hb and decreased deoxy-Hb concentrations in the prefrontal cortex during word-fluency tasks in adult AN subjects These authors suggested that specific patterns of changes in oxygenation might indicate less supply and less demand for cerebral blood volume during cognitive tasks in AN. The total- and oxy-Hb concentrations immediately increased and the deoxy-Hb concentration immediately decreased after the beginning of the task and gradually reached the baseline level after the end of the task in the control group These different prefrontal hemodynamic responses might indicate that AN subjects apply fewer brain circuits or fewer neurons per circuit during cognitive tasks and might use different brain circuits in relation to their preoccupation with eating behaviors. As biological evaluation of cognitive and autonomic nerve functions demonstrates the benefits of understanding the degree of psychosomatic symptoms and determining therapeutic efficacy, NIRS is rapidly becoming a valuable tool for psychometric measurement

Conclusion

17. Hoshi Y

Findings

38. Kimata H