LATeR

Madrid, Spain, 19 May 2006 - On May 19, during the 15th European Congress of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine in Madrid, Dr. Andrea Gaggioli, a researcher at Istituto Auxologico Italiano, received the Annual Prize of the European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine.

This prize was for a study entitled “Movements Simulation Using Virtual Reality for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation”. The study was co-authored with Dr. Francesca Morganti and Prof. Giuseppe Riva from Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Prof. Mariano Alcaniz, head of the Medical Image Computing Lab at Polytechnic University of Valencia, and Dr. Andrea Meneghini, coordinator of the Advanced Technology for Rehabilitation Lab at Padua Teaching Hospital.

The research was supported by the project I-Learning (Immersion/Imagery Enhanced Learning, IST 2001-38861). The project was led by Prof Fabrizio Davide of Telecom Italia Learning Services, with the scientific coordination of Richard Walker of Xiwrite S.a.S. It was funded under the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) initiative, part of the EU Information Society Technologies (IST) programme.

Dr. Gaggioli and co-workers’ research focused on a novel virtual-reality based strategy to assist mental practice in post-stroke rehabilitation.

“Recent research in neuroscience has shown that imagining a motor action involves the same brain areas involved in performing the action”, explained Dr. Gaggioli. “This supports the idea – already exploited by sports trainers – that training with motor imagery could be effective in learning new motor skills or in promoting motor recovery after damage to the central nervous system. However, for many patients who suffer from damage to the central nervous system, mental simulation of movements can be difficult. To facilitate patients in this task, we designed a special virtual reality system which tricks patients into thinking that they are moving their affected arm”.

The system, dubbed “VR Mirror”, was developed by Spanish engineers from Medical Image Computing Lab at Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. The VR Mirror superimposed on the (unseen) affected limb a virtual reconstruction of the movement, previously recorded from the healthy arm.

 

 

 

In the first stage of training with the VR Mirror, the therapist shows the patient an exercise using the healthy arm. The patient performs the movement, which is captured by an electromagnetic armtracker.
The VR Mirror then constructs a “mirror image” of the way the movement should be performed by the affected arm. This is shown to the patient. The patient is then instructed to mentally rehearse the movement he/she has just observed. Finally the patient has to perform the movement with the affected arm. During the exercise with the paretic arm, the system tracks the movement, and measures its deviation from the movement of the non-paretic arm. Using these measurements, which are performed in real time, the system provides the patient with audiovisual feedback describing his or her performance on the exercise.

After this laboratory training phase, patients are provided with a portable display device, which they can use for mental rehearsal at home. The portable device plays short films of the exercises the patient is supposed to perform.

The experimental rehabilitation program is currently being tested in a pilot study by Dr. Andrea Meneghini at Padua Teaching Hospital.

“Our first case study involved a chronic stroke patient whose condition had stabilised and was not expected to improve. After treatment, the patient showed improvement in upper limb score as measured by standard measures, with a significant impact on the quality of his daily life", Dr. Meneghini stated. "More case studies are in progress. If they give good results, randomised clinical trials are likely” he added.

An article summarizing preliminary clinical findings will be published in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, the official journal of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation.

Go to the press release web site

The purpose of the sixth International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies is to provide a forum for international experts and researchers to present and review how advances in the general area of Virtual Reality can be used to assist people with Disability. This international conference will encompass all aspects of technology used in Virtual Reality systems. Papers are sought in which technical innovation is backed up by evidence of original and practical implementation, or which promise practical implementation in the very near future. Presentations which include video material and/or experimental systems are particularly welcome. Facilities for presenting such material will be available at the conference.

The research presented at the conference will be published in a peer reviewed Proceedings which will be made widely available. It is hoped that the conference will act as a focus for international collaboration.

ICDVRAT 2006 follows on from the success of the conference series: Maidenhead, UK (1996), Skövde, Sweden (1998); Alghero, Sardinia (2000); Veszprém, Hungary (2002); and Oxford, UK (2004). Full papers presented at all previous conferences are available here. Final abstracts from all papers accepted for ICDVRAT 2006 will be made available at the same site at the time of the conference with Full Proceedings book and CDROM archive available to delegates at the conference itself. Papers from 2006 will be made available online in Spring 2007.


http://www.icdvrat.reading.ac.uk/

A report about the project I-Learning has been published by the electronic journal VREfresh.

The journal, coordinated by Roger Frampton, presents state-of-the-art in virtual reality technology and its applications.

We quote here the content of the report:

Dr Andrea Gaggioli from the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab at Istituto Auxologico Italiano in Milan, Italy writes about the I-learning Project, Mental Practice with Augmented Reality for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation: “The aim of the project is to apply augmented-reality technology to teach motor skills to patients suffering from stroke. To achieve this goal the project adopts an innovative approach based on the use of so-called "motor imagery." Recent studies in neuroscience have provided converging evidence that "imagining" a motor action involves the same brain areas involved in performing the action. This supports the idea – already exploited by sports trainers – that training with motor imagery (mental practice) could be effective in learning new motor skills or in promoting motor recovery after damage to the central nervous system. Previous clinical studies have shown that the rehabilitation of post-stroke hemiplegic patients can be made more effective by combining physical practice with mental practice. However, for many patients who suffer from damage to the central nervous system, mental simulation of movements can be difficult, even when the relevant neural circuitry has not been injured. Starting from these premises, a team of researchers coordinated by Italian psychologists from Istituto Auxologico Italiano, in collaboration with Spanish engineers headed by Mariano Alcaniz, from Polytechnic University of Valencia, have designed and developed an augmented-reality workbench (called "VR Mirror") to help post-stroke hemiplegic patients evoking motor images. The research is supported by the EU project, called I-learning (Immersion/Imagery Enhanced Learning ), which is funded under the FET Program (Future and Emerging Technologies). First, the movement is acquired by the system from the healthy arm. Second, the movement is being mirrored and displayed so that the patient can observe and see as if the impaired arm is performing the movement. Third, the patient is instructed to rehearse in his/her imagination the movement he/she has just observed. Last, the patient has to perform the movement with the affected arm. The system is currently being tested to see if it really does help patients to recover more quickly and regain control of arms that have been paralysed following a stroke. "If clinical trials support this approach, the I-learning technology could make a significant contribution to improving the effectiveness and reducing the duration and cost of post-stroke rehabilitation," notes Dr. Andrea Meneghini, a physiatrist working at the University of Padua, Italy." April 15, 2004