Neurofeedback as a coadjuvant technique in neurorehabilitation: a case study

Resumen

Introduction: Brain activity measured by electroencephalography (EEG) can be modified throughoperant conditioning, specifically using neurofeedback (NF). NF has been applied to severaldisorders, including traumatic brain injury, claiming that a change in erratic brain activity wouldbe accompanied by a reduction in symptoms. This study aimed to test the effects of NF on therehabilitation of a patient with traumatic brain injury.Method: The subject of our study N = 1 was a 41-year-old male who presented with traumaticbrain injury because of an occupational accident. On admission to our clinic, the patientunderwent a neuropsychological and logopedic evaluation and presented with mild transcorticalaphasia, memory dysfunction, and executive and attentional dysfunction. The patient startedneurorehabilitation treatment with conventional neuropsychological rehabilitation and speechtherapy, with an intervention rate of 5 days per week. One month later he associated treatmentwith NF, guided by quantified EEG (QEEG). One and two months after the start of treatment, thepatient was reevaluated, both at neuropsychological and logopedic levels, and atneuropsychophysiological level, using QEEG.Results: After the first month of treatment, the patient improved in all impaired areas, includinglanguage. After the second month of intervention, the patient again improved in all areas, but amore marked improvement was observed in language and memory functioning, specificallyverbal comprehension as well as verbal memory. In addition, an improvement in the parametersmeasured by the QEEG was found.Conclusions: NF applied in the context of neurorehabilitation of traumatic brain injury is possiblya good tool that helps to increase the results of neuropsychological rehabilitation.