Clinical trial NCT04723212: Robotic Assessment of Upper Limb Passive and Active Sensory Processing in Healthy Adults
Official title: The Effect of Cognition and Age on Robotic Assessment of Upper Limb Passive and Active Sensory Processing
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Healthy
Keywords: Healthy controls
Upper limb
Somatosensation
Sensory processing
Robotic assessment
Kinematics
Lead sponsor: KU Leuven
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Universitaire Ziekenhuizen KU Leuven
First posted: 2021-01-25
Enrollment: 80
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: All participants will be recruited from the community sample

Brief summary: After a stroke, more than two out of three patients experience problems with upper limb movement and sensation. During the past decade, robotic technology has been increasingly used to asses these problems in a detailed and accurate manner. However, sensory processing, one of the most important sensory functions, has not been assessed using robotic technology yet. Therefore, our group has developed a robotic assessment of sensory processing. This study is set up to obtain detailed information on how healthy controls perform on this task. This information can then help in identifying abnormal performances (i.e. upper limb sensory problems) in stroke patients. We aim to examine 40 healthy younger adults and 40 healthy older adults.

Detailed description: Up to 70% of stroke survivors show upper limb impairments consisting of motor and/or somatosensory impairments. These impairments often persist well into the chronic stage, and may lead to significant limitations in activities of daily living and may negatively affect quality of life. It is therefore of utmost importance to accurately assess upper limb impairments. Clinical assessments exist for both motor and somatosensory function, but lack good psychometric properties. Robotic technology show promising potential and is readily available to assess motor function and proprioception. Robotic assessment for sensory processing is currently not yet available, despite being the most relevant somatosensory function. Indeed, sensory processing shows the strongest association with upper limb movement, and only shows incomplete recovery at 6 months after stroke.

Our group has recently developed a novel robotic assessment of sensory processing, using the Kinarm End-Point Lab (BKIN Technologies Ltd., Canada). This cross-sectional study is set up to collect a large amount of data from healthy controls, in order to obtain reference values for future research and to serve as control data for comparison with stroke patients. 40 younger healthy adults and 40 older healthy adults will be recruited and will undergo extensive clinical and robotic assessment of upper limb motor and somatosensory function, as well as cognitive function. This study also allows to investigate possible age-related decline in task performance, as well as investigation of the role of cognition in performance on this novel task.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

- Aged 18-30 years old; or aged 55+

Exclusion Criteria:

* History of stroke or TIA
* Upper limb somatosensory and/or motor impairments
* Any serious musculoskeletal and/or other neurological conditions
* Serious communication or cognitive deficits
* No written informed consent

Primary outcomes:
measure: Kinarm: sensory processing task
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Kinarm: working memory task
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Montreal cognitive assessment
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Kinarm: position matching task
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Kinarm: visually guided reaching
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Erasmus modified Nottingham sensory assessment
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Tactile discrimination test
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Tactile functional object recognition
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Stereognosis section of the original Nottingham sensory assessment
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Wrist position sense test
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Perceptual threshold of touch
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Fugl-Meyer upper extremity assessment
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Action research arm test
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Barthel index
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
measure: Star cancellation test
timeFrame: Once in the chronic phase (at least 6 months after stroke)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Leuven
country: Belgium
facility: KU Leuven
Study officials:
affiliation: KU Leuven
name: Geert Verheyden
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: