LORETA Z-score Neurofeedback-Effectiveness in Rehabilitation of Patients Suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury

This is a multi-case study involving sixty-seven patients diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that were subjected to Z-score neurofeedback (NFB) therapy. Most of the patients were diagnosed with mild TBI and treated within the first year after brain injury. A few patients were diagnosed with more severe TBI and treated after one year or later following their head injury incident. Most of the patients complained of headaches and cognitive problems while some of them also suffered from dizziness and overlapping depression. Those who complained of cognitive problems were subjected to analysis with computerized cognitive testing (NeuroTrax, Inc.) before and after ten sessions of NFB. During the NFB therapy the subjective response from patients was collected in order to discern whether or not there was an improvement of their symptoms. In addition, QEEG maps were completed before each NFB session initiation in order to see an objective improvement of QEEG abnormalities. Subsequent analysis revealed that 59 out of 67 patients (88%) noticed subjective improvement of their symptoms within 10 sessions of NFB therapy, out of which most of them reported an improvement after only 1-3 NFB sessions. 54 patients also had an objective improvement of QEEG maps (80%) manifesting as reduction of excessive beta activity and/or normalization of delta or theta power. 45 patients completed prior and post NFB neurocognitive testing with 34 patients (76%) having significant cognitive enhancement (Global Cognitive Score increased between 3-30 points). These results are very encouraging and indicate high potential of Z-score LORETA NFB rehabilitation of patients suffering from TBI.