SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1578375
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy for identifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, China
- 2Chengdu Second People's Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 3Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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Background: Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been used to detect changes in haemodynamic response in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of fNIRS in identifying early dementia-related changes and distinguishing between MCI and AD.Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed and Web of Science, focusing on studies that employed fNIRS to measure cerebral hemodynamics in MCI and AD patients. The search included articles published up to February 2024. Studies were selected based on predefined criteria, including the use of fNIRS, inclusion of MCI or AD patients, and publication in English. Data extraction focused on study design, fNIRS device specifications, experimental paradigms, and diagnostic criteria.Results: A total of 58 studies were included in the review. Of these, 4 studies employed both resting-state and task-based paradigms, 11 studies focused on resting-state paradigms, and 43 studies utilized task-based paradigms. Resting-state studies revealed reduced brain activation in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes in AD and MCI patients, along with significant reductions in tissue oxygenation index (TOI) and functional connectivity (FC). Task-based studies demonstrated diminished activation across multiple brain regions during cognitive tasks, with reduced FC intensity and signal complexity in AD and MCI patients. Machine learning models applied to fNIRS data showed high accuracy in classifying MCI and AD, with some models achieving accuracy rates of up to 90%. Conclusion: fNIRS is a promising tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of MCI and AD, and further research is needed to establish its full potential.
Keywords: functional near-infrared spectroscopy, Alzheimer's disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Hermodynamic, functional connectivity
Received: 26 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Yang and Gong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xi Yang, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, 610500, Sichuan, China
Liang Gong, Chengdu Second People's Hospital, Chengdu, 610017, Sichuan Province, China
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