NeuroAIreh@b: an artificial intelligence-based methodology for personalized and adaptive neurorehabilitation

Front Neurol. 2024 Jan 19:14:1258323. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1258323. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Cognitive impairments are a prevalent consequence of acquired brain injury, dementia, and age-related cognitive decline, hampering individuals' daily functioning and independence, with significant societal and economic implications. While neurorehabilitation represents a promising avenue for addressing these deficits, traditional rehabilitation approaches face notable limitations. First, they lack adaptability, offering one-size-fits-all solutions that may not effectively meet each patient's unique needs. Furthermore, the resource-intensive nature of these interventions, often confined to clinical settings, poses barriers to widespread, cost-effective, and sustained implementation, resulting in suboptimal outcomes in terms of intervention adaptability, intensity, and duration. In response to these challenges, this paper introduces NeuroAIreh@b, an innovative cognitive profiling and training methodology that uses an AI-driven framework to optimize neurorehabilitation prescription. NeuroAIreh@b effectively bridges the gap between neuropsychological assessment and computational modeling, thereby affording highly personalized and adaptive neurorehabilitation sessions. This approach also leverages virtual reality-based simulations of daily living activities to enhance ecological validity and efficacy. The feasibility of NeuroAIreh@b has already been demonstrated through a clinical study with stroke patients employing a tablet-based intervention. The NeuroAIreh@b methodology holds the potential for efficacy studies in large randomized controlled trials in the future.

Keywords: artificial intelligence in health; knowledge representation and reasoning applications; neurorehabilitation; profile dynamics; stroke; virtual reality-based activities of daily living simulations.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by ção para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the projects UIDB/04516/2020 (NOVA LINCS), PTDC/CCI-COM/30990/2017 (BRaNT), and PTDC/CCICOM/4464/2020 (ProDy). Additionally, FCT supported YA through SFRH/BD/138911/2018, JC through SFRH/BD/145919/2019/, TP through SFRH/BD/147390/2019, and DB through 2021.05646.BD doctorate scholarships.