Results

We conducted an open-label, randomised, controlled crossover trial to test HAL at nine hospitals between March 6, 2013 and August 8, 2014. Eligible patients were older than 18 years and had a diagnosis of neuromuscular disease as specified above. They were unable to walk for 10 m independently and had neither respiratory failure nor rapid deterioration in gait. The primary endpoint was the distance passed during a two-minute walk test (2MWT). The secondary endpoints were walking speed, cadence, and step length during the 10-m walk test (10MWT), muscle strength by manual muscle testing (MMT), and a series of functional measures. Adverse events and failures/problems/errors with HAL were also evaluated. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to groups A or B, with each group of 15 receiving both treatments in a crossover design. The efficacy of a 40-min walking program performed nine times was compared between HAL plus a hoist and a hoist only. The final analysis included 13 and 11 patients in groups A and B, respectively. Cybernic treatment with HAL resulted in a 10.066% significantly improved distance in 2MWT (95% confidence interval, 0.667-19.464; p = 0.0369) compared with the hoist only treatment. Among the secondary endpoints, the total scores of MMT and cadence at 10MWT were the only ones that showed significant improvement. The only adverse effects were slight to mild myalgia, back pain, and contact skin troubles, which were easily remedied.

Authors

Takashi Nakajima, Yoshiyuki Sankai, Shinjiro Takata, Yoko Kobayashi, Yoshihito Ando, Masanori Nakagawa, Toshio Saito, Kayoko Saito, Chiho Ishida, Akira Tamaoka, Takako Saotome, Tetsuo Ikai, Hisako Endo, Kazuhiro Ishii, Mitsuya Morita, Takashi Maeno, Kiyonobu Komai, Tetsuhiko Ikeda, Yuka Ishikawa, Shinichiro Maeshima, Masashi Aoki, Michiya Ito, Tatsuya Mima, Toshihiko Miura, Jun Matsuda, Yumiko Kawaguchi, Tomohiro Hayashi, Masahiro Shingu, and Hiroaki Kawamoto

DOI number

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-021-01928-9

Citation

Nakajima T, Sankai Y, Takata S, et al. Cybernic treatment with wearable cyborg Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) improves ambulatory function in patients with slowly progressive rare neuromuscular diseases: a multicentre, randomised, controlled crossover trial for efficacy and safety (NCY-3001). Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2021;16(1):304. Published 2021 Jul 7. doi:10.1186/s13023-021-01928-9