Does exergaming promote neurofunctional changes in Parkinson´s disease? A pilot clinical study

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/fm.2023.36120

Abstract

Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated beneficial effects in people with Parkinson´s disease trained with exergames. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of them evaluated whether these effects are sustained by neurofunctional changes. Objective: To evaluate neurofunctional effects of a training, by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging, in people with Parkinson´s disease. Methods: This study was a blind, randomized, and controlled pilot clinical trial with crossover design. The participants were submitted to an evaluation including cognitive performance and functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after  the WiiTM or control trainings. Trainings were applied for 10 days, in two consecutive weeks. Participants starting with WiiTM training were then moved to the control training and vice versa. A wash-out period of 45 days between the trainings was respected. Results: Memory, executive and visuo-spatial functions, and attention were significantly improved compared to baseline (p < 0.05). No differences were observed in cognition compared to the control training. Though not significant, results of functional magnetic resonance imaging analyses suggested that WiiTM training could promote improvements on the brain functional connectivity especially in areas involved in motor execution, planning, visual, memory and somatosensory functions. Conclusion: In people with Parkinson´s disease, an intensive WiiTM training improved cognitive performance that underlined neurofunctional changes in areas involved in cognitive processing.

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Author Biographies

Felipe Augusto dos Santos Mendes, Universidade de Brasília (UnB)

Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Ceilândia

André Lucas Fidelis, Universidade de Brasília (UnB)

Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Ceilândia

Roberta D´´ Anna, Università degli Studi di Palermo

Neurology Section of the Department of Biomedicine Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnosis (BiND)

Giorgio Collura, Università degli Studi di Palermo

Department of Physics and Chemistry

Maurizio Marrale, Università degli Studi di Palermo

Department of Physics and Chemistry

Cesare Gagliardo, Università degli Studi di Palermo

Radiology Section of the Department of Biomedicine Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnosis (BiND)

Marco D´Amelio , Università degli Studi di Palermo

Neurology Section of the Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnosis (BiND)

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Published

2023-07-03

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Original Article