Motor and Cognitive Functions in Acquired and Developmental Brain Damaged Patients

Studies of the Diagnosis, Rehabilitation and Links Between Motor and Cognitive Functions in Acquired and Developmental Brain Damaged Patients

Neurological pathologies cause important and permanent disabilities in every day life. These pathologies can follow stoke, affecting two people per one thousand each year or cerebral palsy, affecting two births per one thousand each year. To date, the diagnosis and the rehabilitation of motor and cognitive problems has been carried out separately by different domains. For example, physiotherapists have focused on motor problems and neuropsychologists have focused on cognitive functions. However, a number of studies have demonstrated a link between motor and cognitive abilities in adults and children. The present study has three main aims: (1) to better evaluate motor and cognitive problems in brain damaged patients (all ages), (2) to understand the link between motor and cognitive abilities in patients and healthy participants and, (3) to propose new types of therapies based on the link between motor and cognitive functions.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Cerebral Palsy; Perceptual Disorders; Hemiparesis
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Motor, cognitive and neuropsychological assessment

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 400
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Marie Alsamour; Email: marie.alsamour@uclouvain.be
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Stéphanie Dehem; Email: stephanie.dehem@uclouvain.be

Study Locations

• Belgium
  • Brabant Wallon
    • Ottignies, Brabant Wallon, Belgium, 1340
      • Recruiting
      • Centre Hospitalier Neurologique William Lennox
      • Contact: Sybille Andries
  • Brussels Capital
    • Woluwé-Saint-Lambert, Brussels Capital, Belgium, 1200
      • Recruiting
      • Cliniques Universitaires St Luc
      • Contact: Thierry Lejeune, Pr

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 5 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Congenital cerebral palsy and acquired brain injury children and adult patients
• Presenting upper limb paresis and/or hemineglect
• Between the age of 3 to 90.
• Able to understand and carry out simple verbal instruction

Exclusion Criteria:

• IQ < 70
• Severe aphasia, attentional disorder or psychiatric disorders
• Neurodegenerative disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Patient group; Brain damaged adults with either hemiparesis and/or hemineglect. Brain damaged children with developmental and/or acquired disease inducing hemiparesis and/or hemineglect.	Behavioral: Motor, cognitive and neuropsychological assessment; Cognitive and motor testing and/or experimental cognitive or motor changes and/or cognitive or motor rehabilitation depending on part of the study investigated.
Sham Comparator: Control group; Healthy adults and children.	Behavioral: Motor, cognitive and neuropsychological assessment; Cognitive and motor testing and/or experimental cognitive or motor changes and/or cognitive or motor rehabilitation depending on part of the study investigated.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Kinematics	Kinematics will be measured with a robotic tool called the REAplan. This tool is a distal effector robotic device that enables the patients to perform upper limb movements in a horizontal plane. The robot comprises a distal effector, a visual interface for the patient and a visual interface for the experimenter. It is fitted with incremental position sensors allowing the record of the distal effector's trajectory in the X and Y plane as function of time (125 Hz). From these records, all kind of quantitative and objective indices of upper limb quality of movement can be computed. Motor and cognitive tasks have been created on this device and have to be validated. These new tools on the robot provide a more accurate measure to better understand the participant's motor and cognitive functioning through kinematics analyses. Moreover, the robot can be used as a rehabilitative device, providing cognitive and motor assistance for specific exercises depending on participant performance.	Change from Baseline (T0) in kinematics at an expected average of 1 week (T1), 2 months (T2) and 3 months (T3).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Standardized cognitive and motor assessment	Cognition and motor performance will be also measured with standardized paper and pencil tests, scales and questionnaires using the three dimensions of the International Classification of Functioning (Body structure and function / Activity limitation / Participation restriction).	Change from Baseline (T0) in cognitive and motor assessment at an expected average of 1 week (T1), 2 months (T2) and 3 months (T3).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc- Université Catholique de Louvain
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Thierry Lejeune, St. Luc Hospital; Principal Investigator: Gaëtan Stoquart, St. Luc Hospital; Principal Investigator: Martin Edwards, Université Catholique de Louvain

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Dehem S, Montedoro V, Brouwers I, Edwards MG, Detrembleur C, Stoquart G, Renders A, Heins S, Dehez B, Lejeune T. Validation of a robot serious game assessment protocol for upper limb motor impairment in children with cerebral palsy. NeuroRehabilitation. 2019;45(2):137-149. doi: 10.3233/NRE-192745.
• Montedoro V, Alsamour M, Dehem S, Lejeune T, Dehez B, Edwards MG. Robot Diagnosis Test for Egocentric and Allocentric Hemineglect. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2019 Jun 1;34(4):481-494. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acy062.
• Doumas I, Lejeune T, Edwards M, Stoquart G, Vandermeeren Y, Dehez B, Dehem S. Clinical validation of an individualized auto-adaptative serious game for combined cognitive and upper limb motor robotic rehabilitation after stroke. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2025 Jan 23;22(1):10. doi: 10.1186/s12984-025-01551-w.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 3, 2015
• First Posted (Estimated): September 7, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 27, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 24, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Brain Damage, Chronic; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Cerebral Palsy; Paresis; Perceptual Disorders; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Psychological Tests; Neuropsychological Tests
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2015/10FEV/053