RS-fMRI Shows Improved Cognitive Abilities in Patients with MS Using Video Games

Cognitive Tests and RS-fMRI scans have revealed that brain-training video games may help people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) improve some of their cognitive abilities by strengthening neural connections in their brains.

Twenty-four MS patients with cognitive impairment took part in the study which was published in the March 2016, online issue of the journal Radiology. The patients were assigned randomly to an eight-week, home-based rehabilitation program, or were put on a waiting list as a control group. The patients underwent cognitive tests and 3 T Resting State-Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (RS-fMRI), at baseline, and again after the eight-week rehabilitation program. Damage to the thalamus and its connections plays a significant role in MS-patients' cognitive dysfunction, and RS-fMRI can provide important insights into neural connectivity.

The research was led by Laura De Giglio, MD, PhD, from the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at Sapienza University in Rome (Italy) and looked at the effects a cognitive rehabilitation program using video games had on the thalamus in MS patients.

The results showed that at follow-up, the 12 patients in the video-game program had significant increases in thalamic functional connectivity. The same patients also showed significant improvements in sustained attention and executive function. The results suggest that brain training based on video games can improve cognitive abilities in MS patients.

Dr. De Giglio, said, “Functional MRI allows you to study which brain areas are simultaneously active and gives information on the participation of certain areas with specific brain circuits. When we talk about increased connectivity, we mean that these circuits have been modified, increasing the extension of areas that work simultaneously. This increased connectivity reflects the fact that video gaming experience changed the mode of operation of certain brain structures. This means that even a widespread and common use tool like video games can promote brain plasticity and can aid in cognitive rehabilitation for people with neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.”

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Sapienza University, Rome