Scalp Application of LED Therapy to Improve Thinking and Memory in Veterans With Gulf War Illness

The purpose of this study is to learn if an experimental treatment can help thinking ability, and memory in Veterans with Gulf War Veterans Illnesses (GWVI). The experimental treatment uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs), that are applied outside the skull, to the head using a helmet that is lined with near-infrared diodes. LEDs are also placed in the nostrils (one red diode; and one near-infrared diode), near-infrared photons to the olfactory bulbs located on the orbito-frontal cortex. There are connections between the olfactory bulbs and the hippocampus. A treatment takes about 30 minutes. The participants receive a series of LED treatments which take place as outpatient visits at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Jamaica Plain Campus. The FDA considers the helmet LED device used here, to be a non-significant risk device. The diodes in the device placed in the nose are low-risk devices, within the FDA Category of General Wellness. In addition, a single, 90 mW near-infrared (NIR) LED was placed on each ear. The LEDs do not produce heat.