What About the Role of Virtual Reality in Parkinson Disease’s Cognitive Rehabilitation? Preliminary Findings From a Randomized Clinical Trial

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a virtual reality training with BTS Nirvana (BTS-N) system in the cognitive and behavioral recovery in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). The BTS-N is a semi-immersive therapy system used for motor and cognitive rehabilitation of patients with neurological diseases, by creating virtual scenarios with which the patient may interact. We enrolled 20 patients with PD undergoing neurorehabilitation. All the patients were randomized into 2 groups: experimental group performing semi-immersive virtual reality training with BTS-N and control group undergoing traditional cognitive training. Each participant was evaluated before and immediately after the end of the training. Each cognitive training consisted of 3 sessions a week, each lasting 60 minutes, for 8 weeks, for a total of 24 sessions in each group. Experimental group showed a greater improvement in cognitive functioning, with regard to executive and visuospatial abilities, as compared with the control group. Our findings suggest that rehabilitation through a new virtual reality instrument could be a valuable tool in improving cognitive and behavioral outcomes of patients with PD