Effect of Early Upper Arm Rehabilitation After Stroke Using Adaptative Video Games

Stroke constitutes one of the most disabiliting desease in industrialized countries, leading to major deficiencies, especially in the upper arm (concerning 50 to 80% of post-stroke patients). Upper arm rehabilitation after stroke improved during the last ten years, with the development of new rehabilitation methods including constraint induced therapy, mirror therapy, mental imaging, virtual reality and robotics. Video games and virtual reality are very promising in this field, and the development of new adaptative games dedicated to upper arm rehabilitation after stroke is necessary to enhance the benefit of those devices in therms of sensori-motor and functional recovery.

Objectives: To prove the efficiency of video-gaming (using dedicated adaptative games) on recovery of motor function of the upper armafter stroke, compared to a "conventional" rehabilitation program.

Design: Multicentric Randomized Controlled TrialParticipants: 50 early stroke patients and 12 healthy control persons will be included in this trial. Inclusion criteria for patients are as follow: age>18, onset of stroke <6 weeks, first unique supra-tentorial ischemic or haemorrhagic stroke, Fugl Meyer score of the upper arm < 30/66 at inclusion. Exclusion criteria are as follow: severe neglect or aphasia, upper arm severe orthopedic limitation, shoulder pain > 5/10, contra-indication to MRI.

Methods:All patient will get a "standard program" of rehabilitation 5 days/week duiong six weeks, including physiotherapy (one or two sessions/day), occupational therapy (one session/day) and speech therapy if necessary (one session/day). Patients will be randomized in two groups: the "treated group" receiving an additional session of 30 to 45 minutes of daily rehabilitation with video games under the supervision of an occupational therapist, and the "control group" receiving the same anount of "standard rehabilitation" provided by an occupational therapist.Assesment will be conducted at inclusion (J0), at the end of the program (Week 6: W6) and at follow-up (end of month 6: M6)).

Recorded datas: The primary endpoint is the difference in increasing the upper arm Fugl Meyer Score (FMS) between both groups at W6. Secondary criterions include: FMS at M6, Box and Block Test at W6 and M6, Nine Hole Peg test at W6 and M6, Wolf Motor Function Test at W6 and M6, Motor Activity Log at W6 and M6, Barthel Index at W6 and M6, SF-36 at W6 and M6. Functional MRI and tensor diffusion imaging will also be conducted in 25 patients and 12 controls, at J0 and W6. Evolution of cerebral plasticity and correlations between cerebral re-organisations and kinematic characteristics of upper arm movements will be provided.