Migliore Simone, Casella Melissa, Tramontano Caterina, Curcio Giuseppe, Squitieri Ferdinando
Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
Centre for Neurological Rare Diseases (CMNR), Italian League for Research on Huntington (LIRH) Foundation, Rome, Italy.
Neurol Sci. 2025 Jan;46(1):219-225. doi: 10.1007/s10072-024-07726-y. Epub 2024 Aug 6.
Several studies demonstrated the utility of immersive virtual reality (VR) as a complementary approach to conventional therapy for improving motor, psychological and cognitive impairment in some pathological conditions. Our pilot study aims to evaluate for the first time: 1) sense of presence, tolerability and usability of VR immersive experience in patients with early stages of Huntington disease (eHDp) compared to healthy controls (HC); 2) correlation between the use of technology/cybersickness and the variables of presence/usability; 3) correlation between clinical characteristics (genetic, motor, functional and cognitive) and VR's variables.
We recruited 10 eHDp and 10 age, gender and education matched HC. Participants completed questionnaires about sense of presence, usability, tolerability and technology use profile. Subjects were exposed to different VR scenarios from a first-person perspective through a standalone VR headset.
Our results showed no significant statistical difference between eHDp and HC for the sense of presence (p=0.910), usability (p=0.744) and tolerability (p=0.730) during the VR experience. Familiarity with the use of technology was also comparable between groups (p=0.676). Regarding correlations in eHDp group, our results showed no correlations between use of technology/tolerability and the sense of presence/usability. Moreover, clinical characteristics of eHDp (genetic, motor, functional and cognitive scores) did not influence the sense of presence, tolerability and usability.
Our research presents preliminary evidence for the applicability of VR in eHDp. These results open up the possibility to explore future applications of this methodology in rehabilitation (i.e., cognitive training, physiotherapy), diagnosis and psychological support in Huntington disease patients.
多项研究表明，沉浸式虚拟现实（VR）作为传统疗法的一种补充方法，可用于改善某些病理状况下的运动、心理和认知障碍。我们的初步研究旨在首次评估：1）与健康对照者（HC）相比，亨廷顿病早期患者（eHDp）的VR沉浸式体验的临场感、耐受性和可用性；2）技术使用/晕动症与临场感/可用性变量之间的相关性；3）临床特征（基因、运动、功能和认知）与VR变量之间的相关性。
我们招募了10名eHDp患者以及10名年龄、性别和教育程度相匹配的HC。参与者完成了关于临场感、可用性、耐受性和技术使用情况的问卷调查。受试者通过独立VR头戴式设备以第一人称视角体验不同的VR场景。
我们的结果显示，在VR体验过程中，eHDp患者和HC在临场感（p = 0.910）、可用性（p = 0.744）和耐受性（p = 0.730）方面没有显著统计学差异。两组在对技术使用的熟悉程度上也相当（p = 0.676）。关于eHDp组中的相关性，我们的结果显示技术使用/耐受性与临场感/可用性之间没有相关性。此外，eHDp的临床特征（基因、运动、功能和认知评分）并未影响临场感、耐受性和可用性。
我们的研究为VR在eHDp中的适用性提供了初步证据。这些结果为探索该方法在亨廷顿病患者康复（即认知训练、物理治疗）、诊断和心理支持方面的未来应用开辟了可能性。
