Article

Balance impairment is a common sensorimotor symptom in mild traumatic
brain injury (mTBI). We designed an affordable, portable virtual reality
(VR)-based balance screening device (Virtual Environment TBI Screen [VETS]),
which will be validated relative to the Neurocom Sensory Organization Test (SOT)
to determine if it can replace commonly used postural assessments. METHODS:
This preliminary study examines healthy adults (n = 56) and adults with mTBI (n = 11).
Participants performed six upright postural tasks on the VETS and the SOT.
Analysis of variance was used to determine between-group differences. Pearson's
correlations were used to establish construct validity. Known-groups approach was
used to establish classification accuracy. RESULTS:
The mTBI cohort performed
significantly worse than the healthy cohort on the new device (p = 0.001). The
new device has 91.0% accuracy and an ROC curve with a significant
area-under-the-curve (AUC = 0.865, p < 0.001).
Conditions with dynamic visual
stimulation were the most sensitive to health status. The SOT had an 84.8%
accuracy and AUC =0.703 (p = 0.034). CONCLUSIONS: The new VR-based device is a
valid measure for detecting balance impairment following mTBI and can potentially
replace more expensive and cumbersome equipment. Assessments that test
visual-vestibular processing, such as VETS, increase sensitivity to mTBI-related
balance deficits, which can be used to guide rehabilitation. Implications for
rehabilitation Emerging technology using virtual reality can be economically
integrated into the clinical setting for easy testing of postural control in
neurologically impaired populations. Tailoring postural assessments to include
tasks that rely on visual and vestibular integration will increase the accuracy
of detecting balance impairment following mild traumatic brain injury.

Langue : ANGLAIS