Preliminary results of a controlled study of BCI-exoskeleton technology efficacy in patients with poststroke arm paresis

Abstract

The article presents preliminary results of iMove research study. By the time of this publication, the data of 47 patients have been processed. The patients in the experimental group (n = 36) were trained in kinesthetic motor imagery using brain-computer interface (BCI) and a controllable exoskeleton. In the control group, BCI imitation procedures were carried out. In average, the patients had 9 training sessions with a duration of up to 40 minutes. On completing the training, only the experimental group showed improvement in scores (results are presented as median and quartiles (25 %; 75 %)): grasp score increased from 0.5 (0.0; 13.0) to 3.0 (0.0; 15.5) points (p = 0.003) and pinch score increased from 0.5 (0.0; 7.5) to 1.0 (0.0; 12.0) points (p = 0.005) on ARAT scale. In the experimental group, a significant improvement in motor function was found in 33.3 % patients on ARAT scale, and in 30.5 % patients on Fugl-Meyer scale. In the control group, those scores were lower: 9.1 % and 18.2 % patients, respectively.