MindMaze Healthcare, the category leader in the multibillion-dollar digital neurotherapeutics market, today announced the first U.K. partnership for its novel MindPod™ platform to target cognitive and motor restoration in stroke patients with The Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital (RBH), based in Aylesbury.
MindPod is the world’s first immersive neuro-animation experience – a unique form of location-based digital therapeutic that focuses on brain repair through high intensity and high dose complex exploratory movements. The MindPod is an immersive location-based animated gaming environment that includes customized sound, lighting and movement tracking. Based on technology developed by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, it is an evidence-based, protocolized, FDA-listed, and CE-Marked neurorestorative solution.
RBH represents MindMaze’s first U.K. hospital installation for MindPod that targets stroke, based on a recently completed study that showed that it doubles the effectiveness of conventional rehabilitation in the upper limbs during the sub-acute phase [1.]. MindPod uses universal principles of brain repair; ongoing trials are using the same immersive room for Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, dementia and healthy ageing, which attests to its potential for more general use in neurological disease and injury.
“MindPod is a complex-movement based exploration that affords a 100% immersive experience for patients. It allows us to take full advantage of a unique but short window of opportunity to repair the nervous system after a stroke,” said John Krakauer, M.A., M.D., Professor of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Chief Medical Advisor to MindMaze. “It is a Pixar-level experience which recreates the enriched environments that neuroscience has shown to be beneficial in animal models.”
Chris Campbell, Managing Director of RBH, stated, “RBH is a world leader in providing effective, evidence-based therapies for patients with neurological injury. Our partnership with MindMaze demonstrates our commitment to lead in the implementation of novel technologies in neurorestoration. We are excited about offering MindPod to patients for the first time in routine clinical practice in the U.K.. Not only is MindPod uniquely effective, it is a therapy that fits well into our existing treatment pathways, meets an unmet clinical need, and is patient-driven, enjoyable and cost-effective. We look forward to continuing to partner with MindMaze to accelerate the adoption of their world-class therapies into clinical practice in order to deliver outstanding outcomes for all patients.”
Ali Jamous, M.D., Medical Director at RBH, said, “MindPod represents nothing less than a revolution in the treatment of stroke. In the U.K. 100,000 people have a stroke annually – that is one stroke every five minutes – yet only 10% of these people fully recover. Neuro-restoration of the arm is needed in 80% of stroke patients. Initial feedback from our patients is incredibly exciting: following a devastating neurological event, patients enjoy MindPod, they become fully engaged and motivated to continue the therapy as they lose themselves in the experience. MindPod gives them confidence to temporarily forget what they have lost, and instead explore what movements they can make, noticeably improving their motor function day by day as a high dose intervention that simply isn’t feasible with comparably intensive levels of conventional rehabilitation.”
MindPod is the subject of many clinical trials worldwide, including six studies on its effects in various stages of stroke recovery. MindPod has recently demonstrated doubled efficacy in a randomised trial treating the sub-acute phase of stroke compared to conventional rehabilitation[1]. MindPod has also successfully been piloted to enhance cognitive and functional wellness in a community setting for the healthy elderly[2], and an ongoing clinical trial is examining the improvement of motor and cognitive functions in Parkinson’s disease[3]. Another study, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, is looking at the efficacy of MindPod on older traumatic brain injury patients to slow progression to dementia; researchers are also exploring its use in motor recovery in hands and fingers for cervical spinal cord injury and in mild-to-moderate multiple sclerosis.
