Virtual Reality vs Traditional Cognitive Training in Patients With Severe Acquired Brain Injury

Considerable evidence exists for using Virtual Reality (VR) for rehabilitation of acquired brain injury (ABI), with a particular focus on stroke. However, to date very little evidence has been collected in patients with ABI with different aetiologies (i.e., traumatic or anoxic brain injury) and level of severity (i.e., severe, sABI). The present multicentre study aims to overcome current literature issues as heterogeneity of populations and outcomes, small sample sizes and a lack of randomized controlled trials, which can affect the level of evidence and generalizability of results, to determine the effectiveness of a non immersive VR-based rehabilitation versus traditional cognitive training (TCT).

Inclusion Criteria: * LCF ≥4 at study entry; * Age 18-75 * Stable clinical diagnosis (i.e., stable LCF); * Time post-injury between 28 days and 6 months; * Ability to complete the pre-test A section of the Italian version of the Trail Making Test (TMT); * A pathological B-A score of the TMT according to normative data adjusted for age and education; * Signed informed consent by the patient or by the patient's primary caregiver. Exclusion Criteria: * Severe medical conditions that might hamper participation in the rehabilitation sessions, or influence diagnosis; * Previous neurodegenerative or acquired neurological diseases that affect cognitive domains (e.g., dementia)