A clinical study of motor imagery-based brain-computer interface for upper limb robotic rehabilitation

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2009:2009:5981-4. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5335381.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arm
  • Biofeedback, Psychology / instrumentation
  • Electroencephalography / instrumentation*
  • Evoked Potentials, Motor
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Imagination*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Cortex / physiopathology*
  • Movement*
  • Paresis / rehabilitation*
  • Robotics / methods*
  • Therapy, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Treatment Outcome
  • User-Computer Interface*