HONG KONG, Sept. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The WIMI Hologram Academy, in partnership with the Holographic Science Innovation Center, has written a new technical paper outlining its research on the application of virtual reality technology in the rehabilitation of lung function in COVID -19 patients. This article follows below:
Coronavirus disease 2019, also called COVID-19, is a new acute respiratory infection that primarily invades the airways. It invades some other organ systems especially lungs mainly including heart, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, lymphoid tissues, blood etc. It has spread all over the world and caused a large number of infections. The sequelae of patients with COVID-19 are diverse and the most common sequelae include respiratory and circulatory sequelae, neurological sequelae and sequelae related to psychological and cognitive disorders. There is no evidence that patients with COVID-19 will have a long-term delayed injury after recovery, called post-covid syndrome, PCS. The occurrence of this syndrome seriously affects the quality of life of survivors and has gradually attracted a lot of attention, and effective rehabilitation treatment can alleviate the occurrence of these symptoms.
Patients with COVID-19, especially those in need of intensive care, have a high demand for physical, psychological and cognitive rehabilitation. The timely and appropriate use of rehabilitation treatment will be conducive to eliminating the sequelae of COVID-19 and promote the recovery of the patient’s cardiopulmonary function. However, due to the lack of resources to provide rehabilitation treatment at the current stage, it is difficult to implement post-COVID-19 rehabilitation. Scientists from the WIMI Hologram Cloud Inc.’s WIMI Hologram Academy (NASDAQ: WIMI) studied the application of virtual reality technology in the rehabilitation of pulmonary function in patients with COVID-19.
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1. Remote rehabilitation mode
Telemedicine, the use of electronic communication technology to provide patient care without physical contact, is now being used in large-scale patient screening, remote clinical consultation, and patient care supervision. Telemedicine is more convenient and patient-centric, which helps to improve the level of the health system. The telemedicine segment includes remote home care, teletutoring and telerehabilitation, as well as the provision of relevant medical education. As COVID-19 spreads, telerehabilitation is becoming more common. Such a home telemedicine service can reduce hospitalization rates and emergency visits, and can reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, reduce pressure on health care and health facilities while ensuring the continuity of rehabilitation.
Decreased cardiopulmonary exercise tolerance is one of the most common symptoms seen in recovering patients with COVID-19. The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) is an important indicator for assessing cardiopulmonary exercise tolerance. Follow-up of COVID-19 patients at 3 months after discharge showed that the 6MWT distance was significantly lower than that of healthy people of the same age; However, patients with more severe disease during the acute infection period had more reduced 6MWT distance at 6 months post-discharge. Investigators performed pulmonary rehabilitation training on 55 patients requiring pulmonary rehabilitation and with improved compliance. The patients were divided into two groups, the control group adopted traditional pulmonary rehabilitation strategies according to the “4S” rehabilitation principle, and the other group adopted telemedicine to manage the patients’ pulmonary rehabilitation. Compared with the pulmonary rehabilitation effect of the two groups, 6MWT, MEP, MIP and other indicators were evaluated. The results proved that the pulmonary rehabilitation training of COVID-19 patients was conducive to the recovery of respiratory muscle strength and lung function, the pulmonary rehabilitation effect under telemedicine management was better, and the plan of rehabilitation was effective, safe and feasible. Telemedicine could play a major role in the “post-COVID-19 era”.
2. Virtual reality technology
Virtual reality technology is technology that provides near-real and believable experiences in a synthetic or virtual way. In practice, virtual reality is a combination of specialized hardware and software. The continuous and rapid development of virtual reality technology is also used as an important means of remote rehabilitation. It consists of a head-mounted display (HMD), which can bring users into an immersive, realistic and multi-sensory environment through computer-generated visual effects. There are four types of virtual reality: immersive virtual reality, desktop virtual reality, also known as non-immersive augmented virtual reality, and simulated virtual reality. Virtual reality is “images and environments with real-time interaction, fully artificial computer simulation”, widely used for realistic reproduction of human structures, pathophysiology and clinical scenarios. The nature of immersion has important practical implications in pulmonary rehabilitation, where patients can be more involved. The construct scenario can promote patients’ “attention shift” and can distract from patients’ negative feelings (eg, fatigue, dyspnea) during physical activity.
3. The application of virtual reality technology in pulmonary rehabilitation
The long-term impact of COVID-19 as an entirely new disease on lung parenchyma and lung function remains an open question, and studies have shown that some survivors have severe lung sequelae (lung consolidation and pulmonary fibrosis). Most survivors can return to work and a normal life, but a significant number still have a function of ventilation and diffusion similar to that of a dead person. While pulmonary rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary intervention based on personalized assessment and treatment, aimed at improving the physical and psychological state of patients with respiratory diseases. Using virtual reality technology, telemedicine services in pulmonary rehabilitation have been successfully launched.
Studies show that the use of virtual reality during rehabilitation changes patients’ participation in treatment, and unlike monotonous exercise, patients will experience an interesting world in a virtual reality environment, thereby boosting their motivation to recover. For chronic patients, such as patients with chronic COPD, this is also crucial. It is well known that the basis of the rehabilitation of patients with COPD is endurance training, which often accompanies patients for a long time to prevent disease progression. Therefore, the use of VR technology will stimulate patients’ enthusiasm and initiative in rehabilitation. On the other hand, the use of mixed virtual reality makes it possible to generate trained projections/images available as a training source for autonomous rehabilitation. Studies have shown that virtual reality interventions lead to lower levels of oxygen consumption compared to traditional pulmonary rehabilitation and that the virtual reality intervention does not cause severe dyspnea. Additionally, the technical perspective of virtual reality used for COPD rehabilitation was analyzed. Although the duration of the rehabilitation program (2 to 8 weeks) and the evaluation parameters were varied, they all proved that the rehabilitation training based on virtual reality is beneficial for the recovery of the lung function of the patients. with COPD.
Virtual reality-based pulmonary function rehabilitation training is feasible and safe for patients, and virtual reality technology can create a new environment for patients, thereby increasing patient engagement and thereby improving patient care levels. ‘physical activity. Additionally, in the current long-term COVID-19 situation, a substitute for inpatient rehabilitation is crucial.
Founded in August 2020, the WIMI Hologram Academy is dedicated to exploring AI holographic vision and researching basic science and innovative technologies, guided by human vision. Holographic Science Innovation Center, in partnership with WIMI Hologram Academy, is committed to exploring the unknown technology of AI holographic vision, attracting, gathering and integrating relevant global resources and superior forces, promoting comprehensive innovation with science and technology innovation as the core, and conduct research in basic science and innovative technology.
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