About 85% of survivors of acute Wernicke's Encephalopathy (WE), a frequent and serious consequence of thiamine deficiency and alcohol misuse, sustain chronic neurocognitive deficits also known as chronic Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS). If alcoholism is combined with smoking, tobacco alcohol optic neuropathy (TAON) may occur which leads to visual impairment. In contrast to WKS, TAON may be treated successfully by early vitamin substitution and detoxification. Little research has been conducted on WKS longterm outcomes. Existing literature suggests poor prognosis. Symptoms remaining beyond the acute treatment with thiamine are thought to be irreversible. Whether neurorehabilitation may be an effective route to help recovery of those persistent symptoms is an open question. At our neurorehabilitation center, which specializes in the treatment of severe chronic deficits after brain injury, the opportunity arose to treat a 35 year old male with WKS, and to conduct follow-up assessments 3- and 7-years post discharge, respectively. Initially MK was admitted to emergency care with suspected postconcussive syndrome, alcohol-related thiamine deficiency, and TAON. Thiamin, cobalamin, and folate substituion improved TAON but major cognitive deficits remained. When admitted to our center 4 months later, he was fully reliant on care staff for all activities of daily living (ADL). Through intensive neurocognive training and psychological treatment he improved gradually and, after 26 months, was well enough to be discharged into the community and pursue work in a sheltered setting. Neuropsychological tests, as well as patient reports obtained at the follow-ups showed that the benefits apparent at discharge had been sustained, and for some scores, improved further. This was particularly evident in the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test which improved from percentage ranges <1 for immediate recognition and recall at discharge to rank 16 for immediate recognition and rank 5 for recall at the 7-year follow-up. This case study illustrates the immense benefits neurorehabilitation can have for WKS induced by alcohol misuse. It further demonstrates how skills and strategies, learned in the inpatient setting, translate into living well and independently, and how the latter promotes further improvement long after discharge.
Background: Standard mirror therapy (MT) is a well-established therapy regime for severe arm paresis after acquired brain injury. Bilateral robot-assisted mirror therapy (RMT) could be a solution to provide visual and somatosensory feedback simultaneously. Objective: The study compares the treatment effects of MT with a version of robotic-assisted MT where the affected arm movement was delivered through a robotic glove (RMT). Methods: This is a parallel, randomized trial, including patients with severe arm paresis after stroke or traumatic brain injury with a Fugl-Meyer subscore hand/finger < 4. Participants received either RMT or MT in individual 30 minutes sessions (15 sessions within 5 weeks). Main outcome parameter was the improvement in the Fugl-Meyer Assessment upper extremity (FMA-UE) motor score. Additionally, the Motricity Index (MI) and the FMA-UE sensation test as well as a pain scale were recorded. Furthermore, patients’ and therapists’ experiences with RMT were captured through qualitative tools. Results: 24 patients completed the study. Comparison of the FMA-UE motor score difference values between the two groups revealed a significantly greater therapy effect in the RMT group than the MT group (p = 0.006). There were no significant differences for the MI (p = 0.108), the FMA-UE surface sensibility subscore (p = 0.403) as well as the FMA-UE position sense subscore (p = 0.192) respectively. In both groups the levels of pain remained stable throughout the intervention. No other adverse effects were observed. The RMT training was well accepted by patients and therapists. Conclusions: The study provides evidence that bilateral RMT achieves greater treatment benefit on motor function than conventional MT. The use of robotics seems to be a good method to implement passive co-movement in clinical practice. Our study further demonstrates, that this form of training can feasibly and effectively be delivered in an inpatient setting.
Motor relearning after stroke is a lengthy process which should be continued after patients get discharged from the clinic. This project aims at developing a system for telerehabilitation which enables stroke patients to exercise at home autonomously or under remote supervision of a therapist. The system includes haptic therapy devices which are more promising and beneficial for stroke rehabilitation than non-haptic approaches. In this paper, we present the results of two initial studies investigating specific design solutions for the task's and feedback's visualization. In the first study, we followed a participatory design approach to create a set of design solutions for a motivating instant visual feedback for exercising with the haptic devices. In the second study we evaluated the developed visualizations with stroke patients in clinical environment. The current project status and next steps are described.
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