Clinical program of cognitive tele-rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury

The purpose of this study was to clinically validate a new modality of cognitive rehabilitation services based on telemedicine systems (PREVIRNEC platform) for persons with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Patients and Methods. Eighty patients with moderate or severe TBI; mean age: 36.1 years (SD= 18.19 years) received a 10-week cognitive rehabilitation (5 sessions-week). Differences between pre- and post-treatment neuropsychological test scores were used to measure patient's improvements in the domains of attention, memory and executive functions. Patients were divided in two groups based on the Competency Rating Scale (PCRS; adequate or inadequate everyday competence) post-rehabilitation score. Results. Patients showed significant cognitive improvement after the application of the computerized cognitive rehabilitation program. Significant differences were observed between both groups on the number of highly-performed tasks during cognitive treatment, in the attention (p=0.026) and executive (p=0.040) execution. Conclusions. The cognitive rehabilitation program based on telemedicine systems (PREVIRNEC platform) improves attention, memory, and executive functions, as well as in patient's everyday competence.