A clinical study of motor imagery-based brain-computer interface for upper limb robotic rehabilitation.
Non-invasive EEG-based motor imagery brain-computer interface (MI-BCI) holds promise to effectively restore motor control to stroke survivors. This clinical study investigates the effects of MI-BCI for upper limb robotic rehabilitation compared to standard robotic rehabilitation. The subjects are hemiparetic stroke patients with mean age of 50.2 and baseline Fugl-Meyer (FM) score 29.7 (out of 66, higher = better) randomly assigned to each group respectively (N = 8 and 10). Each subject underwent 12 sessions of 1-hour rehabilitation for 4 weeks. Significant gains in FM scores were observed in both groups at post-rehabilitation (4.9, p = 0.001) and 2-month post-rehabilitation (4.9, p = 0.002). The experimental group yielded higher 2-month post-rehabilitation gain than the control (6.0 versus 4.0) but no significance was found (p = 0.475). However, among subjects with positive gain (N = 6 and 7), the initial difference of 2.8 between the two groups was increased to a significant 6.5 (p = 0.019) after adjustment for age and gender. Hence this study provides evidence that BCI-driven robotic rehabilitation is effective in restoring motor control for stroke.
Ang
Kai Keng
KK
Institute for Infocomm Research, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore. kkang@i2r.astar.edu.sg
Guan
Cuntai
C
Chua
Karen Sui Geok
KS
Ang
Beng Ti
BT
Kuah
Christopher
C
Wang
Chuanchu
C
Phua
Kok Soon
KS
Chin
Zheng Yang
ZY
Zhang
Haihong
H
D001132:Arm; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology / Q000295:instrumentation; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009068:Movement; D010291:Paresis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014584:User-Computer Interface