"Effectiveness and Safety Confirmed for 'Online Remote Monitoring' Home Electronic Medicine Treatment in Stroke Patients"

Samsung Seoul Hospital Professor Kim Yeonhee's Team
Improvement of Cognitive Function in Patients with Severe Cognitive Impairment

Professor Kim Yeon-hee (center) of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Samsung Medical Center is guiding electronic drug treatment.
[Photo by Samsung Medical Center]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Samsung Seoul Hospital has proven that electronic drug therapy aiding stroke patients' rehabilitation can be safely administered at home through remote monitoring and control.

Professor Kim Yeon-hee's team from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Samsung Seoul Hospital announced on the 14th that they confirmed the effectiveness and safety of home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) electronic drug therapy through 'online remote monitoring' to ensure patients continue receiving effective treatment even after discharge.

A significant number of stroke patients suffer from various sequelae such as cognitive decline, depression, and aphasia. To overcome these, it has been common to receive inpatient treatment at hospitals equipped with all necessary therapeutic devices. In particular, transcranial direct current stimulation electronic drugs are effective for patients with severe cognitive impairment but have only been used during hospitalization until now. The treatment involves attaching electrodes to the patient's head to stimulate the brain using electrical currents, which requires a professional therapist to control the equipment.

The research team randomly divided 26 chronic stroke patients with cognitive impairment into a real tDCS electronic drug group and a sham tDCS electronic drug group and observed them for one month. Patients underwent electronic drug therapy for 30 minutes a day, five times a week, along with computer-based cognitive training therapy. Before home treatment, patients received prior education on how to use the tDCS electronic drug. However, adjustments to treatment time and intensity of the electronic drug equipment were conducted by professional therapists through online remote monitoring, preventing patients from arbitrarily changing device settings.

The treatment effect showed significant improvement in cognitive function scores in the group that combined real electronic drug therapy with cognitive training, as measured by the Korean version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (K-MoCA). The sham electronic drug group showed almost no difference in scores before and after treatment. Within the real electronic drug group, patients with severe cognitive impairment improved their cognitive function scores by about 30%, from 13 points before using the electronic drug to 17 points after one month of use, based on the maximum score. Patients with left brain lesions also showed about a 16% increase in scores.

Professor Kim said, “The future direction of rehabilitation therapy is to overcome physical limitations and continue consistent treatment outside the hospital,” adding, “This study demonstrated that ‘electron drug therapy conducted under remote monitoring’ not only showed actual effectiveness but also confirmed safety as no side effects were observed.”

This study was published in the recent issue of the international academic journal Stroke.

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