Effect of RehaCom cognitive rehabilitation software on working memory and processing speed in chronic ischemic stroke patients

ABSTRACT

Stroke survivors need assistance to overcome cognitive impairments. Working memory (WM) and processing speed (PS) as two critical cognitive functions are disrupted by stroke. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of RehaCom rehabilitation software on WM and PS in participants with chronic ischemic stroke with hemiplegia (right/left side). Participants were selected among stroke patients who were referred to our special rehabilitation clinic. Fifty participants were assigned to control (n = 25) and experimental (n = 25) groups. The results of the experimental group were compared with the control group before and after the treatment with RehaCom (ten 45-min sessions across five weeks, two sessions per week). The results showed a significant improvement in WM and PS in the experimental group in comparison with the control group after a 5-week training with RehaCom. In conclusion, our findings indicate that treatment with RehaCom software improves WM and PS in chronic ischemic stroke participants with hemiplegia. The exact mechanism of RehaCom is largely unknown and further studies are needed, but its effects on the function of brain regions involved in modulating cognitive functions such as the prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and parietal cortex may be mechanisms of interest.

KEYWORDS:

• assessment
• cognitive impairment
• computer access
• neurorehabilitation and brain computer interfaces
• older adults

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Engineer Asghar Ranjbar (Hasomed, GmbH, Daj scientific co.) for providing RehaCom software.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

There is no providing financial support to this project.