NEUROREHABILITATION USING VIRTUAL REALITY FOR POST-STROKE PATIENTS: MEDICAL UTILITY AND ETHICAL ASPECTS

I. Ciobanu, M. N. Popescu, M. Berteanu, M. G. Barbu, D. C. Thompson, M. G. Iliescu, C. Beiu, C. I. Enachescu

Abstract: Stroke is a leading cause of disability amongst adults worldwide. While mortality rates decreased in the last decades, the morbidity associated with the occurrence of stroke is a major cause of disability, missed days of work, decreased quality of life and of increased healthcare costs. Stroke survivors frequently suffer from speech impairments, motor deficits, spasticity, cognitive impairment or bowel and bladder dysfunction. Rehabilitation interventions can aid in alleviating the impact these complications have on the activities of daily living, improving cognition, gait and balance, decreasing spasticity and reducing pain. While classic rehabilitation programs were proved to be highly efficient in achieving these goals, the implication of newly developed technologies such as virtual reality (VR), when available, could improve patient outcomes, providing an easy-to-use, exciting new tool that can be used both in a clinical setting and at home.
In this paper, we review how VR has emerged as a highly promising tool in post-stroke comprehensive rehabilitation programs, and we escalate the most recent progress in the field while emphasizing the ethical aspects regarding the use of VR in post-stroke neurorehabilitation.
Keywords: stroke, rehabilitation, disability, spasticity, virtual reality, ethics.