NCT04768192

Functional and MRI Evaluation of the Robot-assisted and Traditional Rehabilitation Programs on the Muscle

Functional and MRI Evaluation of the Robot-assisted and Traditional Rehabilitation Programs on the Muscle in Subjects With Acquired Brain Injury

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 20 (estimated)
• Sponsor: IRCCS Eugenio Medea · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 5 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Walk recovery is one of the goals of rehabilitation programs in patients with acquired brain injury. Recent experiences have shown the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs including traditional physiotherapy in combination with robotic gait training systems (Lokomat). In this context, MRI can be used to assess the treatment effects on the muscular tissue, providing useful clinical indications for the optimization of the rehabilitation programs on the basis of the damage extension and the muscle characteristics.

Detailed description

Acquired brain injuries can lead to permanent physical, cognitive and psycho-social deficits. One of the primary objectives of rehabilitation in these patients is to recover the ability to walk, which is usually feasible in most patients, even in those with severe brain injuries. Recent experiences have shown that the use of rehabilitative programs that include traditional physiotherapy in combination with robotic walking training systems (robotic-aided gait training - RAGT, Lokomat) are effective in improving the performance of pediatric patients with acquired brain injuries. Thanks to the partial or total support of the patient's weight and the robotic guidance that facilitates a physiological gait pattern, these systems allow intensive and reproducible training which, by stimulating brain neuroplasticity, can increase the chances of recovery. Alterations of strength, coordination, balance associated with structural changes of muscular tissue (e.g. atrophy, fibrosis, adipose substitution) are frequent and may, on the other hand, compromise the effectiveness of rehabilitation treatments. There are currently no literature data regarding local effects on muscle tissue of such treatments in the pediatric population; in particular, it has not yet been documented how the muscle responds to the robotic treatment and whether it is possible to identify local indices able to correlate with the degree of performance and improvement of each patient. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can be a useful tool for in-vivo measurement of the effects of these treatments on muscle tissue and provide clinical indications for a better optimization of rehabilitative programs, based on the extent of damage and the characteristics of the muscle. A complete evaluation of the effects of rehabilitative programs with RAGT, both in terms of mechanical-functional data (kinematics, muscular metabolism) and structural data through MRI, and the subsequent correlation of these parameters with clinical scales measuring motor skills, is not currently described in the literature. It could instead prove to be very useful both for prognostic purposes and for a better understanding of the local mechanisms of muscle tissue response to rehabilitative treatments, favoring an identification of the best rehabilitation plan targeted for each specific patient and thus increasing the chances of functional recovery. The objectives of the study are: 1. To characterize, in subjects with acquired cerebral lesions, the effects of intensive rehabilitative programs with RAGT, in terms of kinematics, activation and muscle metabolism; 2. To document, in subjects with acquired cerebral lesions, the effects of intensive rehabilitative programs with RAGT on muscular structure through advanced and quantitative MRI methods; 3. Correlate functional and muscle imaging data with clinical parameters related to patient's motor skills and with the type of treatment performed.

Conditions

• Traumatic Brain Injury

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Physical Rehabilitation without lokomat	Conventional physiotherapy is performed in 10 weekly sessions (45 minutes each) over 4 weeks(total 40 sessions). Specific exercises are administered to improve gait, balance and functional abilities focusing on: strengthening the gluteus and quadriceps muscles stretching the hip flexor and hamstrings muscles increasing static balance increasing dynamic balance increasing functional abilities improving ground gait going up and down the stairs. Physiotherapists can choose from a list of 25 standard exercises, according to some constraints: 1. strengthening exercises had to involve all the lower limb joints (no segmental intervention) 2. during each session, at least 4 out of the 7 categories above had to be delivered 3. the impossibility to perform any of the categories above during any session had to be recorded in the patient's treatment diary. Physiotherapists of the treatments group discuss patients' diaries during weekly meetings.
PROCEDURE	Physical Rehabilitation with Lokomat	The rehabilitation protocol consists of 20 sessions of robotic training alternated with 20 sessions of conventional physiotherapy (CP). Each treatment is performed in 5 weekly sessions (45 minutes each) over 4 weeks. Robotic training aimed to recovery/improve walking capacity from the initial Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level. It is performed using the Lokomat® (Hocoma AG, Volketswil, Switzerland) gait orthosis. Initial set ups includes 50% body weight unload, gait velocity adjusted on the patient individual capability (1.5 km/h on average) and 100% guidance force. Both weight unload and guidance force are gradually reduced across sessions according to patient recovery of muscle strength and allowing patients to work harden and move more freely. Children engagement, active participation and motivation were reinforced through frequent encouragement by therapists and performance feedback implemented in the exercise video-games.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-01-01
• Primary completion: 2021-11-30
• Completion: 2021-12-31
• First posted: 2021-02-24
• Last updated: 2021-02-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Italy