Lai CH, Pai MC. The feasibility and practicality of auxiliary detection of spatial navigation impairment in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease by using virtual reality.
Heliyon 2024;
10:e24748. [PMID:
38317980 PMCID:
PMC10838725 DOI:
10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24748]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
Spatial disorientation in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI due to AD) has become a subject of great interest. Medical practitioners are concerned about the serious issue of these patients who are getting lost. Therefore, the early detection of MCI due to AD is crucial.
New methods
We designed virtual reality (VR) protocols to test spatial recognition abilities. Our devices mainly included the Vive Pro Eye and the Steam VR program. We tested the three groups: young cognitively unimpaired (YCU), older cognitively unimpaired (OCU) and MCI due to AD. We also administered the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument and the Questionnaire on Everyday Navigational Ability for comparison.
Results
We adopted the testing results of 2 YCU, 3 OCU, and 4 MCI due to AD for analysis. Concerning cognitive abilities, YCU and OCU had better performance than MCI due to AD respectively. It was consistent with the recent memory and the total scores of the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument.
Comparison with existing methods
We introduced a real-life setting, the Tzu-Chiang campus at National Cheng Kung University, into the VR environment. It allowed us to assess daily road-recognizing abilities of participants in a controlled testing environment.
Conclusions
Several limitations were considered in this study, such as limited number of participants and low-quality images on the screen. Nonetheless, this device has the potential to serve as a screening tool for MCI due to AD based on its feasibility and practicality.
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