| Autor: |
Cornelius Angerhöfer, Mareike Vermehren, Annalisa Colucci, Marius Nann, Peter Koßmehl, Andreas Niedeggen, Won-Seok Kim, Won Kee Chang, Nam-Jong Paik, Volker Hömberg, Surjo R. Soekadar |
| Rok vydání: |
2022 |
| DOI: |
10.21203/rs.3.rs-2053811/v1 |
| Popis: |
Background: Assistive hand exoskeletons are promising tools to restore hand function after cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) but assessing their specific impact on bimanual hand and arm function is limited due to lack of reliable and valid clinical tests. Here, we introduce the Berlin Bimanual Test for Tetraplegia (BeBiTT) and demonstrate its sensitivity to brain/neural hand exoskeleton(B/NHE)-related improvements in bimanual task performance. Methods: Fourteen study participants with subacute cervical SCI performed the BeBiTT unassisted (baseline). Thereafter, participants repeated the BeBiTT while wearing a B/NHE (intervention). Online control of the B/NHE was established via a hybrid sensorimotor rhythm-based brain-computer interface (BCI) translating electroencephalographic (EEG) and electrooculographic (EOG) signals into open/close commands. For reliability assessment, BeBiTT scores were obtained by four independent observers. Besides internal consistency analysis, construct validity was assessed by correlating baseline BeBiTT scores with the Spinal Cord Independence Measure III (SCIM III) and Quadriplegia Index of Function (QIF). Sensitivity to differences in bimanual task performance was assessed with a bootstrapped paired t-test. Results: The BeBiTT showed excellent interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients > 0.9) and internal consistency (α = 0.91). Validity of the BeBiTT was evidenced by strong correlations between BeBiTT scores and SCIM III as well as QIF. Wearing a B/NHE (intervention) improved the BeBiTT score significantly (p < 0.05) with high effect size (d =1.063), documenting high sensitivity to intervention-related differences in bimanual task performance. Conclusion: The BeBiTT is a reliable and valid test for evaluating bimanual task performance in persons with tetraplegia, suitable to assess the impact of assistive hand exoskeletons on bimanual function. |
| Databáze: |
OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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