Maggio Maria Grazia, De Cola Maria Cristina, Latella Desirèe, Maresca Giuseppa, Finocchiaro Chiara, La Rosa Gianluca, Cimino Vincenzo, Sorbera Chiara, Bramanti Placido, De Luca Rosaria, Calabrò Rocco Salvatore
1 IRCCS Centro Neurolesi "Bonino Pulejo," Messina, Italy.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2018 Nov;31(6):312-318. doi: 10.1177/0891988718807973. Epub 2018 Oct 25.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a virtual reality training with BTS Nirvana (BTS-N) system in the cognitive and behavioral recovery in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). The BTS-N is a semi-immersive therapy system used for motor and cognitive rehabilitation of patients with neurological diseases, by creating virtual scenarios with which the patient may interact.
We enrolled 20 patients with PD undergoing neurorehabilitation. All the patients were randomized into 2 groups: experimental group performing semi-immersive virtual reality training with BTS-N and control group undergoing traditional cognitive training. Each participant was evaluated before and immediately after the end of the training. Each cognitive training consisted of 3 sessions a week, each lasting 60 minutes, for 8 weeks, for a total of 24 sessions in each group.
Experimental group showed a greater improvement in cognitive functioning, with regard to executive and visuospatial abilities, as compared with the control group.
Our findings suggest that rehabilitation through a new virtual reality instrument could be a valuable tool in improving cognitive and behavioral outcomes of patients with PD.
本研究旨在评估使用BTS Nirvana（BTS-N）系统进行虚拟现实训练对帕金森病（PD）患者认知和行为恢复的影响。BTS-N是一种半沉浸式治疗系统，通过创建患者可与之交互的虚拟场景，用于神经系统疾病患者的运动和认知康复。
我们招募了20名正在接受神经康复治疗的PD患者。所有患者被随机分为两组：实验组使用BTS-N进行半沉浸式虚拟现实训练，对照组接受传统认知训练。每位参与者在训练开始前和结束后立即接受评估。每次认知训练每周进行3次，每次持续60分钟，共进行8周，每组总共进行24次训练。
与对照组相比，实验组在执行和视觉空间能力方面的认知功能有更大改善。
我们的研究结果表明，通过一种新的虚拟现实工具进行康复训练可能是改善PD患者认知和行为结果的有价值工具。
