As mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affects hundreds of thousands of children and their families each year, investigation of potential mTBI assessments and treatments is an important research target. Three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT), where an individual must allocate attention to moving objects within 3D space, is one potentially promising assessment and treatment tool. To date, no research has looked at 3D-MOT in a pediatric mTBI population. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine 3D-MOT learning in children and youth with and without mTBI. Thirty-four participants (mean age=14.69±2.46 years), with and without mTBI, underwent six visits of 3D-MOT. A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant time effect, a nonsignificant group effect, and a nonsignificant group-by-time interaction on absolute speed thresholds. In contrast, significant group and time effects and a significant group-by-time interaction on normalized speed thresholds were found. Individuals with mTBI showed smaller training gains at visit 2 than healthy controls, but the groups did not differ on the remaining visits. Although youth can significantly improve their 3D-MOT performance following mTBI, similar to noninjured individuals, they show slower speed of processing in the first few training sessions. This preliminary work suggests that using a 3D-MOT paradigm to train visual perception after mTBI may be beneficial for both stimulating recovery and informing return to activity decisions.
The main objective of this research was to determine the safety of using three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) with children who experience delayed recovery after sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Nine youth aged 12 to 17 years old who visited the Montreal Children's Hospital's Trauma Center Concussion Clinic and were experiencing delayed recovery after sustaining a mTBI and being followed by a multimodal approach to mTBI management were recruited.Children were trained over six visits using 3D-MOT, every 2 to 7 days. Each visit consisted of 3 reaction time calculations on the task, as well as symptom reporting.In addition, at visit 1 and 6, clinical measures specific to mTBI management were administered. Primary outcome measures included safety of a 3D-MOT training regimen. Safety was measured through reporting of adverse events, and tolerability was assessed through protocol deviations and adherence. Results demonstrate that symptomatic children after mTBI can safely perform a 3D-MOT training regimen.
K E Y W O R D Sconcussion, mild traumatic brain injury, neurotracker, perceptual training, persistent symptoms, threedimensional multiple object tracking How to cite this article: Corbin-Berrigan L-A, Faubert J, Gagnon I. Neurotracker as a potential mean of active rehabilitation in children with atypical mild traumatic brain injury recovery: A pilot safety study.
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