NCT02770300

Brief Summary

The primary goal of this project is to test the safeness and clinical effectiveness of a novel exoskeleton for the upper limb (Arm Light Exoskeleton Rehab Station, ALEx RS) developed at Wearable Robotics srl, for the force assistance of stroke patients during robotic-rehabilitation. The secondary study aim is to design and test an automatic personalized robot-based upper limb motor rehabilitation protocol targeting the specific kinematic performance of each patient. Finally, the study also aims to define the "neuro-biomechanical state" of the patient and its evolution during the therapy by studying cortical signals and muscular synergies. This information will be used to improve the personalization of the robotic treatment by targeting not only the motor performance but also the cerebral and muscular activity of the patient. The study is longitudinally designed in order to test the safeness and clinical effectiveness of ALEx RS over time, and to monitor the clinical effectiveness of the automatic personalized robotic therapy from the beginning until the end of the treatment. Moreover, in order to estimate the long-term clinical effectiveness of the treatment, the assessment methods proposed in the clinical trial will be repeated one month after the end of the treatment.

Trial Health

57
Monitor

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
28

participants targeted

Target at P25-P50 for not_applicable stroke

Timeline
Completed

Started May 2016

Longer than P75 for not_applicable stroke

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
terminated

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

March 30, 2016

Completed
1 month until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

May 1, 2016

Completed
11 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

May 12, 2016

Completed
4.6 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

December 31, 2020

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

December 31, 2020

Completed
Last Updated

October 17, 2022

Status Verified

May 1, 2020

Enrollment Period

4.7 years

First QC Date

March 30, 2016

Last Update Submit

October 13, 2022

Conditions

Keywords

automaticpersonalizedrobotic therapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

  • Safety evaluated through the number of adverse events

    2 years

  • Efficacy evaluated through Fugl-Meyer

    2 years

Secondary Outcomes (1)

  • Efficacy of personalized therapy evaluated through Fugl-Meyer

    2 years

Other Outcomes (4)

  • Neurobiomechanical state evaluated through kinematics

    2 years

  • Neurobiomechanical state evaluated through muscle activity measured with electromyography (EMG)

    2 years

  • Neurobiomechanical state evaluated through brain activity measured with electroencephalography (EEG)

    2 years

  • +1 more other outcomes

Study Arms (3)

Conventional therapy

NO INTERVENTION

The control group of patients will perform a conventional therapy without the use of the exoskeleton. The conventional therapy will consist in a traditional treatment of occupational therapy or physiotherapy without the use of the robotic device. The therapist will provide a specific conventional treatment comparable with the robotic treatment in terms of session time and therapeutic goals (i.e., 45 minutes per session, about 100, 150, 200 and 250 movements respectively for the first, second, third and fourth week). The level of difficulty of the exercises will be increased by the physiotherapist according to the degree of impairment of the patients. The muscle and cerebral activity during the execution of the conventional therapy could be acquired.

Traditional robotic rehabilitation with ALEx RS

EXPERIMENTAL

The rehabilitative task will be constituted of 3D reaching movements covering a sphere of fourteen centimeter of radius in front of the patient. The initial rehabilitative task will be the same for all the patients belonging to this group and the workspace will be extended accordingly to the therapist evaluation during the following training sessions. In order not to bias the comparisons of the effects of the different rehabilitative treatments, the therapist assisting this group during the rehabilitation will be the same for all the subjects belonging to this group and he/she will not take part in the rehabilitative treatment of the other groups. Initially, the patients will execute reaching movements in different directions in the horizontal plane. If the therapist will evaluate that the movements have been sufficiently recovered, reaching movements in the other planes will be proposed.

Device: Arm Light Exoskeleton Rehab Station (ALEx RS)

Automatic personalized robotic rehabilitation with ALEx RS

EXPERIMENTAL
Device: Arm Light Exoskeleton Rehab Station (ALEx RS) - automatically personalized

Interventions

ALEx RS is a complete system specifically designed to support the rehabilitation of stroke patients. In particular, this system is equipped with a robotic arm exoskeleton conceived for the force assistance, integrated in a Virtual Reality system that allows implementing rehabilitative exercises highly interactive and engaging for the patients. It is proven that the use of this type of devices in rehabilitation can provide high intensive, repetitive, task specific, and interactive treatment of the impaired arm and an objective and reliable mean for monitoring patients' progress.

Traditional robotic rehabilitation with ALEx RS

ALEx RS is a complete system specifically designed to support the rehabilitation of stroke patients. In particular, this system is equipped with a robotic arm exoskeleton conceived for the force assistance, integrated in a Virtual Reality system that allows implementing rehabilitative exercises highly interactive and engaging for the patients. It is proven that the use of this type of devices in rehabilitation can provide high intensive, repetitive, task specific, and interactive treatment of the impaired arm and an objective and reliable mean for monitoring patients' progress. The movements to be performed by the patient are automatically decided by the exoskeleton.

Automatic personalized robotic rehabilitation with ALEx RS

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years - 100 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersYes
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • stroke patients
  • right and left hand dominant
  • cerebral lesion onset between 2-8 weeks
  • able to participate in a session of about 30-60 minutes
  • right-hemiplegic with at least 10° of motion in the treated joints (shoulder and elbow)
  • age: more than 18 years old

You may not qualify if:

  • subjects with an active implantable device or wearing an active device (e.g., pacemakers, metallic objects in the brain, infusion pumps, etc.)
  • persistent delirium or disturbed vigilance
  • moderate or severe language comprehension deficits
  • skull breach
  • new stroke lesions during rehabilitation
  • patients incapable of discernment
  • subjects with reduced mobility due to previous injuries or abnormalities unrelated with the cerebral accident

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

University Hospital of Geneva

Geneva, 1211, Switzerland

Location

Related Publications (9)

  • Pirondini E, Coscia M, Marcheschi S, Roas G, Salsedo F, Frisoli A, Bergamasco M, Micera S. Evaluation of the effects of the Arm Light Exoskeleton on movement execution and muscle activities: a pilot study on healthy subjects. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2016 Jan 23;13:9. doi: 10.1186/s12984-016-0117-x.

    PMID: 26801620BACKGROUND
  • Giang C, Pirondini E, Kinany N, Pierella C, Panarese A, Coscia M, Miehlbradt J, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Guggisberg A, Micera S. Motor improvement estimation and task adaptation for personalized robot-aided therapy: a feasibility study. Biomed Eng Online. 2020 May 14;19(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12938-020-00779-y.

    PMID: 32410617BACKGROUND
  • 5th International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation, Pisa, italy, October 16-20 2018, Evolution of cortical asymmetry with post-stroke rehabilitation: a pilot study, Miehlbradt J, Pierella C, Kinany N, Coscia M, Pirondini E, Vissani M, Mazzoni A, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Guggisberg A and Micera S.

    BACKGROUND
  • 5th International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation, Pisa, italy, October 16-20 2018, Training muscle synergies to relearn movement: current perspectives and future trends, Coscia M, Pellegrino L, Pierella C, Pirondini E, Kinany N, Miehlbradt J, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Giannoni P, Marinelli L, Guggisberg A, Casadio M and Micera S.

    BACKGROUND
  • 5th International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation, Pisa, italy, October 16-20 2018, On the potential of EEG biomarkers to inform robot-assisted rehabilitation in stroke patients, Pirondini E, Pierella C, Kinany N, Coscia M, Miehlbradt J, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Guggisberg A, Micera S, Deouell L and Van de Ville D.

    BACKGROUND
  • 5th International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation, Pisa, italy, October 16-20 2018, personalizing exoskeleton-based upper limb rehabilitation using a statistical model: a pilot study, Pierella C, Giang C, Pirondini E, Kinany N, Coscia M, Miehlbradt J, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Guggisberg A and Micera S.

    BACKGROUND
  • 5th International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation, Pisa, italy, October 16-20 2018, Resting-state functional connectivity in stroke patients after upper limb robot-assisted therapy: a pilot study, Kinany N, Pierella C, Pirondini E, Coscia M, Miehlbradt J, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Van De Ville D, Guggisberg A and Micera S.

    BACKGROUND
  • 7th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, Enschede, Netherlands, August 26-29 2018. Motor intention decoding during active and robot-assisted reaching. Pastore A*, Pierella C*, Artoni F, Pirondini E, Coscia M, Casadio M, Micera S.

    BACKGROUND
  • Pierella C, Pirondini E, Kinany N, Coscia M, Giang C, Miehlbradt J, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Dalise S, Sgherri G, Chisari C, Van De Ville D, Guggisberg A, Micera S. A multimodal approach to capture post-stroke temporal dynamics of recovery. J Neural Eng. 2020 Jul 10;17(4):045002. doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab9ada.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stroke

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cerebrovascular DisordersBrain DiseasesCentral Nervous System DiseasesNervous System DiseasesVascular DiseasesCardiovascular Diseases

Study Officials

  • Adrian Guggisberg, Md

    University Hospital, Geneva

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
  • Carmelo Chisari, Md

    Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
  • Silvestro Micera, Prof.

    Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

    STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
DOUBLE
Who Masked
CARE PROVIDER, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
INDUSTRY
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

March 30, 2016

First Posted

May 12, 2016

Study Start

May 1, 2016

Primary Completion

December 31, 2020

Study Completion

December 31, 2020

Last Updated

October 17, 2022

Record last verified: 2020-05

Locations