“Optoanesthesia”: The Application of Transcranial Photobiomodulation to General Anesthesia

Abstract

General anesthesia relies on pharmacological anesthetics. However, some side effects of anesthetics have been observed. Non-pharmacological transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) as an adjuvant treatment may reduce the dosage of pharmacological anesthetics while maintaining anesthetic depth. The inhibitory effects of tPBM in terms of central nervous system depression render it a potential approach for inducing general anesthesia. Alteration of quantum processes of neuronal microtubules, the mechanisms of general anesthesia on consciousness, may occur in response to tPBM treatments. Further, tPBM as an adjuvant treatment may facilitate the distribution of the pharmacological anesthetics in the brain. The analgesic effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) are acknowledged, and PBM has been used for regional analgesia. However, whether tPBM can be used for general anesthesia is unknown. Here, I define “optoanesthesia” as “the use of tPBM for general anesthesia”. I hypothesize that optoanesthesia can act as a means of general anesthesia. Supporting evidence in the form of unconsciousness, amnesia, and immobilization is provided in this paper. In addition, the tPBM-induced frequent yawning (a manifestation of transient arousal-shift during the continuing loss of consciousness during induction of general anesthesia) observed incidentally in my previous study of tPBM preconditioning for seizures also supports the hypothesis. I further discuss the issues with respect to the pharmacokinetics, parameters of optoanesthesia such as wavelength and targeted brain regions, and apparatus design, as well as the compatibility of the optoanesthesia and the Bispectral Index Monitoring System during surgery. Future research is needed to prove this hypothesis.