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Spinal Cord InjuriesNCT03443700

Randomized Controlled Trial on Robotic Exoskeleton in Spinal Cord Injury: Clinical Outcomes and Cortical Plasticity

A study testing EKSO-GT and Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor training in people with Spinal Cord Injuries, run by Azienda Usl di Bologna at 1 site in Italy.

Unknown status

Status not confirmed. The sponsor has not verified this record for over two years, so it may be out of date.

Official record
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Trial summary

The recent introduction of robotics for locomotor training in paraplegic patients, and in particular the use of anthropomorphic exoskeletons, has opened new frontiers in rehabilitation. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 65 years
Conditions the study is for
Spinal Cord Injuries
What is being tested?
EKSO-GT and Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor training
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
50 participants
Where
1 siteItaly
Study dates
10 Dec 2020to Nov 2022
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 65 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • SCI due to traumatic or vascular etiology;
  • Incomplete motor SCI (C or D in ASIA Impairment Scale);
  • T1-L1 (included) neurological level;
  • 1-5 years since injury;
  • Functional gait ability (also with braces or orthoses);
  • Sufficient Range of Motion (ROM) of lower limbs joints to achieve a reciprocal gait pattern and allow transition from sitting to vertical position;
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  • Stable clinical conditions;
  • Minimum height of 157 cm;
  • Maximum height of 188 cm;
  • Maximum weight of 100 Kg;
  • Maximum intertrochanteric distance of 46 cm;
  • Cognitive integrity and full collaboration of the subject.
  • Specific research informed consent signed.

Who cannot join

  • Intensive walking rehabilitation training undergone in the last 3 months;
  • Previous use of a robotic exoskeleton;
  • Instability or major deformity of the spine;
  • Lower limbs joints instability;
  • Indication to spinal orthosis;
  • Uncontrolled spasticity (score > 3 of the Modified Ashworth Scale) in the majority of the muscle groups of the lower limbs;
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  • History of traumatic brain injury;
  • Recent significant bone fractures, traumatic and/or pathological for the required training;
  • Presence of neurogenic paraosteoarthropathies (POAN) at the onset or phlogistic phase;
  • Discrepancy in femurs length (> 1.3 cm) and legs length (> 1.9 cm);
  • Symptomatic orthostatic hypotension;
  • Severe and recurrent uncontrolled autonomic dysreflexia;
  • Cardiopulmonary comorbidities limiting physical effort;
  • Skin lesions that can interfere with the study rehabilitation trainings;
  • Documented psychiatric pathology;
  • Contraindications to fMRI and polygraphic EEG execution;
  • Contraindications to TMS;
  • Ongoing pregnancy.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Elena Antelmi, MD contact

+39-3293526335

elenaantelmi@gmail.com

Italy1 site, 1 recruiting
  • Azienda USL di Bologna, Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna (IRCCS ISNB)

    Bologna, BO, 40139

    Elena Antelmi, MD, +39-3293526335, elenaantelmi@gmail.com

    Recruiting

Other trials in Italy

About this study

Official title: Randomized Controlled Trial on Rehabilitation Training With a Robotic Anthropomorphic Exoskeleton in Patients With Motor Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: Clinical Outcomes and Cortical Plasticity Indicators

The recent introduction of robotics for locomotor training in paraplegic patients, and in particular the use of anthropomorphic exoskeletons, has opened new frontiers in rehabilitation. Existing literature, though encouraging, is still scarce and studies demonstrating efficacy are highly heterogeneous and have a small sample size. Evidence is also needed about cortical plasticity after SCI, in conjunction with the use of innovative rehabilitation devices, through indicators like neurophysiological and neuroradiological markers, as the knowledge of such mechanisms is crucial to improve clinical outcomes. Cortical circuits controlling prosthetic devices are different from those controlling normal parts of the body and remodeling mechanisms following prosthetic use have been documented, but in conditions other than SCI.

The aims of this randomized controlled trial, with a 2-arm parallel-group design, are:

Read more
  1. to evaluate and quantify the efficacy of locomotor rehabilitation with a robotic anthropomorphic exoskeleton (EKSO-GT) in terms of clinical and functional outcomes, and the persistence of such efficacy;
  2. to investigate the presence and persistence of brain neuronal plasticity and cortical remodeling mechanisms underlying the robotic rehabilitation approach.

Fifty patients will be recruited and randomly assigned to 2 treatment arms. Both groups will follow a program of standard locomotor rehabilitation for 8 weeks. One group will also undergo an overground locomotor training with the EKSO-GT during the first 4 weeks.

Read the detailed description

The increasing incidence of incomplete Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) has raised new rehabilitation challenges. Recovery of walking is one of the top priorities in SCI persons and growing efforts have been pursued aimed at identifying effective alternative techniques for improving gait performance.

Standard rehabilitation approach has been so far the most widely used, but the recent introduction of anthropomorphic exoskeletons may open new frontiers in the field. Anthropomorphic exoskeletons have been developed to assist SCI patients with mobility, but there is also a certain optimism that they may have potentialities to improve walking patterns of incomplete SCI persons after a rehabilitation period with such devices is terminated. So far, however, while different systematic reviews and meta-analyses have reported on the safety of the training with such exoskeletons, there are no significant Fiftystudies on its efficacy. Along with this, central mechanisms underlying the anatomical and functional changes induced by these approaches have never been investigated in SCI.

This longitudinal randomized controlled trial, with a 2-arm parallel group design, aims at evaluating the efficacy of the training with an anthropomorphic, robotized exoskeleton (EKSO-GT, by Ekso Bionics), as "add-on" to the standard locomotor rehabilitation, in improving walking performance, when compared to the standard locomotor rehabilitation alone, in a population of patients with non-acute motor incomplete SCI. Along with this and other clinical outcomes, neurophysiological and structural markers of Central Nervous System (CNS) plasticity will be explored, aimed at capturing mechanisms underlying how anthropomorphic exoskeletons affect CNS plasticity.

Fifty patients will be recruited in 3 Italian rehabilitation hospitals setting and assigned to 2 groups, with an allocation ratio of 1:1, through a block randomization approach. One group will perform a 4-week standard locomotor training (sLT) alone, while the other will perform a 4-week period sLT plus a training with the EKSO-GT (sLT + EX-T). Afterwards, both groups will undergo a further 4-week sLT alone.

Patients will be evaluated at several time points (always when the exoskeleton is not worn): clinical outcomes will be assessed by means of clinical examinations, standardized tests and validated scales; neurophysiological modulations will be evaluated by means of paired Motor and Sensory Evoked Potentials and a study of Electroencephalographic (EEG) slow waves oscillations and signal coherence during sleep; anatomical and structural cortical modifications will be studied with brain functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

It is expected that the overground locomotor training with a new-generation exoskeleton, as "add-on" to standard locomotor training, can further improve clinical outcomes (especially walking performance) in the studied population, and that such clinical improvements are underlined by mechanisms modulating synaptic plasticity occurring also at the CNS level.

Being tested
EKSO-GT, Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor training
Keywords
SCI, gait, incomplete motor SCI, robotic gait training, locomotor training, walking training, rehabilitation, exoskeleton, EKSO, EKSO-GT, neuroplasticity, brain cortical plasticity
Medical subject headings
Spinal Cord Injuries

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • EKSO-GTDevice

    Each rehabilitation session with EKSO-GT will last (operating time) 30-40 minutes. Such training will be carried out for 3 sessions per week, during the first 4 consecutive weeks of the study period (i.e. 12 total sessions per patient).

  • Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor trainingProcedure or surgery

    Neurorehabilitation locomotor training will be performed according to standardized protocols shared within the scientific community, during the whole 8-week study period, 5 times per week, twice a day, for a total of about 2,5 hours per day.

Study groups in NCT03443700
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
sLTActive comparatorStandard neurorehabilitation locomotor training during the whole study period (8 weeks).
Receives: Procedure: Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor training
sLT + EX-TExperimentalStandard neurorehabilitation locomotor training (sLT) during the whole study period (8 weeks), plus a training with a new-generation robotic anthropomorphic exoskeleton (EKSO-GT locomotor training) during the first 4 study weeks.
Receives: Device: EKSO-GT; Procedure: Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor training

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Change in walking performance

    10-meter walk test

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4

Secondary outcomes (14)
  1. Change in walking performance

    10-meter walk test

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 8

  2. Change in walking endurance

    6-minute walk test

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  3. Change in functional walking capacity

    Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury II (WISCI II)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  4. Change in spasticity

    Modified Ashworth Scale

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  5. Change in pain

    Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); every day, twice a day for the whole study period; overall appraisal at week 4 and week 8

  6. Change in mood state

    Profile of Mood States questionnaire (POMS)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  7. Change in lower limbs muscle strength

    Lower Extremity Motor Score (LEMS) of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  8. Change in lower limbs muscle activation pattern

    Gait Dynamic Electromyography (DEMG)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  9. Change in entity of neuronal plasticity and cortical remodelling of motor cortical areas

    Change in short-term intracortical inhibition through Motor Evoked Potentials (PEMs) elicited by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); after the first locomotor training session; week 4; week 8

  10. Change in entity of neuronal plasticity and cortical remodelling of sensory cortical areas

    Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SSEs) at cortical level

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); after the first locomotor training session; week 4; week 8

  11. Change in synaptic potentiation (neuroprosthetic learning)

    Analysis of slow-wave oscillations with Electroencephalographic (EEG) polysomnography (PSG)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); after the first locomotor training session; week 4

  12. Change in synaptic potentiation (neuroprosthetic learning)

    Analysis of EEG coherence signal

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); after the first locomotor training session; week 4

  13. Change in brain anatomy and cortical structure

    Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

    Measured: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4; week 8

  14. Evaluation of patient's satisfaction for the training received

    Ad-hoc questionnaire

    Measured: Week 4

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted23 Feb 2018
  2. Study start10 Dec 2020
  3. Primary completionNov 2022 (estimated)
  4. Study completionNov 2022 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
Randomized controlled trial
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
50 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03443700
Sponsor's protocol ID
CE-19072
Other IDs
347-2019-DISP-AUSLBO
Status last verified
Dec 2021
First submitted
16 Feb 2018
Last updated
16 Dec 2021
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
Yes
Individual data sharing
Undecided

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing EKSO-GT and Standard neurorehabilitation locomotor training in people with Spinal Cord Injuries, run by Azienda Usl di Bologna at 1 site in Italy.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 13 inclusion and 18 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 16 Dec 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Italy. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Results are not available in the source record.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Elena Antelmi, MD (+39-3293526335, elenaantelmi@gmail.com), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Change in walking performance (time frame: Baseline (initial visit post-randomization); week 4). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 16 Dec 2021.

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