Preliminary study on the feasibility of virtual reality-based cognitive training on patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that causes a decline in cognitive functions, considerably affecting a patient's life. Recently, virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a new tool used in the cognitive training of patients with AD.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the safety, feasibility, and clinical efficacy of VR-based cognitive training for patients with mild to moderate AD.

Methods: Thirteen participants diagnosed with mild to moderate AD underwent VR training sessions by using the MentiTree software. Each session was conducted for 30 min twice a week for 9 weeks (total of 540 min). Cognitive functions were assessed before and after the intervention.

Results: Although 1 of the 13 participants experienced adverse effects, the 9-week cognitive training was well tolerated and had a high feasibility of 93%±24.65%. A tendency toward improvement was observed in the visual recognition memory of the participants (p = 0.034), but other domains did not significantly change.

Conclusions: VR-based cognitive training is safely accepted by patients with mild to moderate AD. The potential of VR in AD treatment should be further explored using a randomized control group.