Enhancing Abilities in Amputees and Patients With Peripheral Neuropathy Through Restoration of Sensory Feedback

February 16, 2024 updated by: Greta Preatoni, ETH Zurich

Enhancing Functional and Cognitive Performances in People With Amputation and Peripheral Neuropathy Through the Restoration of Sensory Feedback in Real World and Virtual Reality Environments

Many amputees suffer from Phantom Limb Pain (PLP), a condition where painful perceptions arise from the missing limb. Leg amputees wear prostheses that do not provide any sensory feedback, apart from the stump-socket interaction. Increased physical effort associated with prosthesis use as well as discomfort often lead to rejection of artificial limbs. Additionally, the perception of the missing limb and its brain representation, do not match-up with what amputees see (the prosthesis) and this is made worse by the absence of sensory feedback. Therefore, re-establishing the sensory flow of information between the subject's brain and the prosthetic device is extremely important to avoid this mismatch, which creates inadequate embodiment. This study focuses on improving functional abilities and decreasing PLP in amputees thanks to the use of a system able to generate a sensory feedback (SF), which will be provided with a non-invasive electrical stimulation (ES). First, the possibility of enhancing the performance in different functional tasks thanks to the use of SF will be explored. Furthermore, it will be evaluated if SF enhances the prosthesis embodiment and helps restoring a multisensory integration (visuo-tactile), potentially providing also a pain relief. Once tested this system on amputees, also people with peripheral neuropathy and sensory loss will be recruited. Diabetic patients can suffer from symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSPN), which is a common complication caused by prolonged glucose unbalanced levels that lead to nerve damage. Non-invasive ES has been proposed and used as a therapy to treat the chronic pain conditions. In particular, TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) is a type of non-invasive ES, which is able to activate large diameter afferent fibers. The gate control theory of pain states that these large diameter fibers inhibit central nociceptive transmission with a resultant decrease in pain perception. Therefore, also these patients will be recruited to see whether adding a non-invasive SF can enhance their functional motor abilities while diminishing their pain.

The subjects will perform a pool of the following tasks, depending on their residual abilities: motor tasks (walking on ground level and on stairs), cognitive tasks (dual tasks), subjective evaluation of prosthesis weight and description of sensations from ES.

Some tasks will be performed in Virtual Reality environments with and without an active stimulation.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • transfemoral amputation or transtibial amputation or knee disarticulation or diabetic peripheral neuropathy
  • the subject should be healthy other than the amputation and the diabetic neuropathy and in the range of 18-70 years old
  • the subject should be able to comfortably walk, sit and stand alone

Exclusion Criteria:

  • cognitive impairment
  • pregnancy
  • Prior or current psychological diseases such as borderline, schizophrenia, Depression or Maniac Depression
  • acquired brain injury with residual impairment
  • excessive sensitivity or pain to electrical stimulation with surface electrodes
  • cybersickness

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: experimental group
amputees or diabetics receiving intervention
Device: Sensory Feedback
Subjects will receive a sensory feedback provided by electrical stimulation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline in Visual Analogue scale for pain throughout the study
Time Frame: one month before the study, 2 weeks before the study, immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervento, after tasks with and without sensory feedback, 2 weeks after last intervention, 1 month after last intervention
Subjects will complete VAS scale to measure pain level (from 0 to 10, 10 is worst pain immaginable)
one month before the study, 2 weeks before the study, immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervento, after tasks with and without sensory feedback, 2 weeks after last intervention, 1 month after last intervention
Change between tasks with sensory feedback and with no sensory feedback in Ground Reaction Forces
Time Frame: during motor tasks up to 3 weeks
GRF will be assessed during motor perfomances of the subjects
during motor tasks up to 3 weeks
Change between tasks with sensory feedback and with no sensory feedback in Centre of Mass and Pressure
Time Frame: during motor tasks up to 3 weeks
CoM and CoP will be assessed during motor perfomances of the subjects
during motor tasks up to 3 weeks
Change from baseline and between tasks with sensory feedback and with no sensory feedback in Vo2 consumption
Time Frame: during motor tasks up to 3 weeks
metabolic consumption is going to be measured with mobile spiroergometry and compared after walking with and without sensory feedback
during motor tasks up to 3 weeks
Change from baseline between tasks with sensory feedback and with no sensory feedback in Embodiment
Time Frame: immediately after sessions up to 3 weeks
Embodiment will be measured with questionnaires (from -3 to +3, +3 totally agrees; two questions are from 1 to 10 (to measure vividness, where 10 is max vividness) and from 1 to 100 (to measure prevalence, where 100 is max duration of the embodiment feeling))
immediately after sessions up to 3 weeks
Change between tasks with sensory feedback and with no sensory feedback in Visual Analogue scale for confidence
Time Frame: immediately after sessions up to three weeks
Subjects will complete VAS scale to measure confidence level (from 0 to 10, where 10 is max confidence)
immediately after sessions up to three weeks
Change between tasks with sensory feedback and with no sensory feedback in Joint torque
Time Frame: during motor tasks up to three weeks
kinematic measurement
during motor tasks up to three weeks
Change in Proprioceptive drift between different conditions
Time Frame: Immediately after sessions in Virtual Reality up to three weeks
To measure embodiment subjects will be asked after VR sessions to indicate where they feel their leg without looking at the limb in real world. This is a measure of embodiment.
Immediately after sessions in Virtual Reality up to three weeks
Change in Telescoping measures between different conditions
Time Frame: Immediately after sessions in Virtual Reality up to three weeks
To measure embodiment subjects will be asked after VR sessions to indicate how long they feel their leg without looking at the limb in real world. This is a measure of embodiment.
Immediately after sessions in Virtual Reality up to three weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experiences Scales
Time Frame: Immediately before intervention
Subjects will fill the TAPES to measure their satisfaction with the prosthesis (Scores range from 5 to 25, with higher scores indicating greater levels of adjustment)
Immediately before intervention
Change in Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders
Time Frame: one week before first session and one week after last session
QoL will be assessed through questionnaires to see if the intevention had impact on this aspect (All Neuro-QOL banks and scales are scored such that a high score reflects more of what is being measured)
one week before first session and one week after last session
Amputee Mobility Predictor
Time Frame: Immediately before the intervention
Subjects will perform AMPRO to assess K level (scores range from 0 to 47, correspoding to levels of mobility from 1(K1) to 4(K4), where 4 is the best level of mobility)
Immediately before the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

ETH Zurich

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 13, 2019

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 15, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 31, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

January 3, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 20, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 16, 2024

Last Verified

February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2019-N-97

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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