An early feasibility study for neurological devices: The ARCTRAN study

An Early Feasibility Study (EFS) is an exploratory clinical investigation of a device to optimize its design through iterative feedback loops during early clinical experience. The ARCTRAN study is an EFS aimed at analyzing efficacy, safety and adherence to the home-rehabilitation device-based (ARC Intellicare) program compared to a paper-based exercise protocol in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and stroke.

At baseline (T0), patients of each group were randomly divided into two arms, with a 1:1 ratio: an 'interventional' group received ARC Intellicare and a 'control' group received a paper-based rehabilitation protocol, both consisting of three 60-minute sessions/week for 8 weeks. Each patient was evaluated by means of clinical scales, gait analysis and stabilometry at baseline (T0) and after the rehabilitation (T2).

All patients (n = 90, 30 per group) showed a significant improvement in clinical scales between T0 and T2. Stroke patients showed a bigger gait improvement in the ARC Intellicare arm, measured both by clinical scales (Tinetti gait p = 0.01) and gait analysis parameters. In PD group, only gait analysis parameters recorded a significant improvement in the active arm.

We demonstrate the safety of ARC Intellicare for home-based rehabilitation in patients with chronic neurological conditions, with high adherence levels. Moreover, in stroke group, it produced more significant improvements of gait compared to paper-based protocol. In the global scenario of the EFS projects promoted by the Italian Ministry of Health, this study is a starting point to conduct this type of studies in Italy.