A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives

Background: The management of people affected by age-related neurological disorders requires the adoption of targeted and cost-effective interventions to cope with chronicity. Therapy adaptation and rehabilitation represent major targets requiring long-term follow-up of neurodegeneration or, convers...

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Main Authors: Augusto Bonilauri, Francesca Sangiuliano Intra, Luigi Pugnetti, Giuseppe Baselli, Francesca Baglio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Diagnostics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/10/8/581
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spelling doaj-43a63f8bb7d3448e848b1e439cd8a6da2020-11-25T03:20:49ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182020-08-011058158110.3390/diagnostics10080581A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future PerspectivesAugusto Bonilauri0Francesca Sangiuliano Intra1Luigi Pugnetti2Giuseppe Baselli3Francesca Baglio4Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyBackground: The management of people affected by age-related neurological disorders requires the adoption of targeted and cost-effective interventions to cope with chronicity. Therapy adaptation and rehabilitation represent major targets requiring long-term follow-up of neurodegeneration or, conversely, the promotion of neuroplasticity mechanisms. However, affordable and reliable neurophysiological correlates of cerebral activity to be used throughout treatment stages are often lacking. The aim of this systematic review is to highlight actual applications of functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a versatile optical neuroimaging technology for investigating cortical hemodynamic activity in the most common chronic neurological conditions. Methods: We reviewed studies investigating fNIRS applications in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as those focusing on motor and cognitive impairment in ageing and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as the most common chronic neurological disease in young adults. The literature search was conducted on NCBI PubMed and Web of Science databases by PRISMA guidelines. Results: We identified a total of 63 peer-reviewed articles. The AD spectrum is the most investigated pathology with 40 articles ranging from the traditional monitoring of tissue oxygenation to the analysis of functional resting-state conditions or cognitive functions by means of memory and verbal fluency tasks. Conversely, applications in PD (12 articles) and MS (11 articles) are mainly focused on the characterization of motor functions and their association with dual-task conditions. The most investigated cortical area is the prefrontal cortex, since reported to play an important role in age-related compensatory mechanism and neurofunctional changes associated to these chronic neurological conditions. Interestingly, only 9 articles applied a longitudinal approach. Conclusion: The results indicate that fNIRS is mainly employed for the cross-sectional characterization of the clinical phenotypes of these pathologies, whereas data on its utility for longitudinal monitoring as surrogate biomarkers of disease progression and rehabilitation effects are promising but still lacking.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/10/8/581neurovascular couplingfNIRSneurological diseaseneuroimagingParkinson’s DiseaseAlzheimer’s Disease
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Augusto Bonilauri
Francesca Sangiuliano Intra
Luigi Pugnetti
Giuseppe Baselli
Francesca Baglio
spellingShingle Augusto Bonilauri
Francesca Sangiuliano Intra
Luigi Pugnetti
Giuseppe Baselli
Francesca Baglio
A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives
Diagnostics
neurovascular coupling
fNIRS
neurological disease
neuroimaging
Parkinson’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
author_facet Augusto Bonilauri
Francesca Sangiuliano Intra
Luigi Pugnetti
Giuseppe Baselli
Francesca Baglio
author_sort Augusto Bonilauri
title A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives
title_short A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives
title_full A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives
title_fullStr A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives
title_full_unstemmed A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases—Actual Applications and Future Perspectives
title_sort systematic review of cerebral functional near-infrared spectroscopy in chronic neurological diseases—actual applications and future perspectives
publisher MDPI AG
series Diagnostics
issn 2075-4418
publishDate 2020-08-01
description Background: The management of people affected by age-related neurological disorders requires the adoption of targeted and cost-effective interventions to cope with chronicity. Therapy adaptation and rehabilitation represent major targets requiring long-term follow-up of neurodegeneration or, conversely, the promotion of neuroplasticity mechanisms. However, affordable and reliable neurophysiological correlates of cerebral activity to be used throughout treatment stages are often lacking. The aim of this systematic review is to highlight actual applications of functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a versatile optical neuroimaging technology for investigating cortical hemodynamic activity in the most common chronic neurological conditions. Methods: We reviewed studies investigating fNIRS applications in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as those focusing on motor and cognitive impairment in ageing and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as the most common chronic neurological disease in young adults. The literature search was conducted on NCBI PubMed and Web of Science databases by PRISMA guidelines. Results: We identified a total of 63 peer-reviewed articles. The AD spectrum is the most investigated pathology with 40 articles ranging from the traditional monitoring of tissue oxygenation to the analysis of functional resting-state conditions or cognitive functions by means of memory and verbal fluency tasks. Conversely, applications in PD (12 articles) and MS (11 articles) are mainly focused on the characterization of motor functions and their association with dual-task conditions. The most investigated cortical area is the prefrontal cortex, since reported to play an important role in age-related compensatory mechanism and neurofunctional changes associated to these chronic neurological conditions. Interestingly, only 9 articles applied a longitudinal approach. Conclusion: The results indicate that fNIRS is mainly employed for the cross-sectional characterization of the clinical phenotypes of these pathologies, whereas data on its utility for longitudinal monitoring as surrogate biomarkers of disease progression and rehabilitation effects are promising but still lacking.
topic neurovascular coupling
fNIRS
neurological disease
neuroimaging
Parkinson’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/10/8/581
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