Project combines technology and health to combat chronic pain from Spinal Cord Injury
Fighting chronic pain in patients with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) using virtual reality and brain-computer interface is the goal of "Chronic Pain control in Spinal Cord Injury: an interdisciplinary study in neuroscience, art, nursing and ethics" (ReliefPain), an interdisciplinary research project of the Regional Centre of Porto, Catholic University of Portugal, which combines Arts and Technology with Health Sciences.
The project was dedicated to the development of a virtual reality (VR) and non-invasive brain-computer interface (BMI) integration system in a neurorehabilitation protocol for patients with chronic pain in paraplegia condition due to spinal cord injury. "We intend to contribute to the exploration of new paradigms of treatment and rehabilitation, potentially with better results than traditional strategies, such as physiotherapy," says Carla Pais-Vieira, CIIS researcher, and adds "all for the sake of significantly reducing pain levels and improving the quality of life of patients with SCI."
Developed under the internal funding for interdisciplinary projects of the Catholic University, it integrates the Arts Science and Technology Research Centre (CITAR), from the School of Arts, the Interdisciplinary Health Research Centre (CIIS), from the Institute of Health Sciences in Porto, and the Bioethics Institute (IB). André Perrotta (CITAR/CISUC), Carla Pais Vieira (CIIS), João Amado (CIIS) and António Ferreira (IB) are the researchers who make up the ReliefPain team.
André Perrotta, currently an integrated researcher at CISUC and collaborating researcher at CITAR, states that "the impact of the project lies in the fact that it points to promising results for the development of rehabilitation protocols for patients suffering from neurological problems (for example: paraplegia), using recent technologies."
Treatment for more people and at a more affordable cost
The main objective of the project was achieved, as the initial hypothesis that a neurorehabilitation protocol using VR and BMI can help improve the symptoms of chronic pain in patients with spinal cord injury was confirmed through application in a real patient. The project has resulted in two publications in high impact journals, two papers at an international conference and a patent submitted and granted.
The researchers explain that this project opens the door to the possibility of developing portable neurorehabilitation systems, using mobile platforms (mobile phones, handheld-consoles), which would allow this type of treatment to be brought to more people at an affordable cost. The next steps? "To look for new sources of funding and new partners that will allow us to expand the study to a larger number of patients," they say.
The project, which lasted three years, relied on a multi and interdisciplinary team from the Universidade Católica, combining researchers from the areas of Health Sciences, Arts and Bioethics, and, throughout its development, also relied on researchers from other areas such as Neuroscience, Product Design and Software Development.
For the ReliefPain team this is a project "with ambitious and complex objectives, which would be unachievable without the collaboration of a truly multidisciplinary team."