What  will prevail between the ” traditional” and “hybrid digital” approach ?

The vCare project pilot staged in Italy required the involvement of 20 stroke subjects . Now after months of intense screening and recruitment inside the Casa di Cura del Policlinico list of inpatients, the expected n° of subjects has been finally identified and allocated into two groups. The experimental sample is going to test the vCare system in the home environment for the execution of a “digital” rehabilitation pathway mediated by a virtual coach assistant and through the interaction with a series of devices like a tablet, a VR serious games suite and a smartband . Instead, the control group is going to provide a conventional protocol of rehabilitation activities carried out by patients at their home in a self -treatment mode, after a period of training in hospital with professionals of rehabilitation.

What will be the most intriguing and successful approach between the two in terms of adherence and usability ? The vCare consortium is now collecting tons of data and recording evidences and feedback by patients; you will learn more it during the vCare final event meeting in Brussels on August 29th.  Don’t miss it!!!

Dr. Rocio DelPino has presented last Saturday the preliminary results of the pilot phase of the vCare system for Parkinson’s disease (PD) at the Basque Country Neurology Society (6-7 May 2022).

During the evaluation phase, real Parkinson patients have tested in real life conditions during several months the usability of the vCare system as a tool of telerehabilitation and tele monitorization of PD patients. They were the very first patients to test the system and although they had to cope with the unavoidable “infancy” issues, the drop-out rate has been very low and the level of satisfaction at the end of the experience is high.  In the Basque country, there is also a lack of offer and people living in the countryside often need to travel long distances to find an adequate offer of services. A part of the testers were thus extremely happy to have a solution which can support them daily.

vCare ambitions to make a significant contribution to secondary prevention by providing a personalized but agile rehabilitation pathway which takes into considerations all the basic needs of the person and promotes an active lifestyle.  With thus a strong impact on adherence to the treatment plan. The vCoach is here key to activate a motivational pattern.

During the conference, vCare unveiled the preliminary results of the intervention group of PD patients. 10 patients have been selected to test the system at home. For each patient a individual pathway was created and all the technology was installed (including sensors, a games box and of course the tablet to communicate with the avatar). The intervention group has started the testing in November 2021. 70% of patients are male and the mean age is 64.5±7.9.

The patients presented cognitive and motor impairment, measured through the MoCA and the UPDRS. The mean of their perceived health is very low 57.8%, therefore, there is an important opportunity to improve their perceived health and their quality of life.

Although these are only very preliminary results, Dr. @Rocio_DelPino told the attendees that there were very encouraging results when one looks at for example the results of cognitive rehabilitation sessions: In the two figures below, one may notice that the patient a daily increase in the cognitive scores.

The finals results will be presented in Brussels during the vCare final conference on August 29.