The Effect of a Complex Intervention Program for Unilateral Neglect in Patients with Acute-Phase Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of Prism Adaptation (PA) plus functional electrical stimulation (FES) on stroke patients with unilateral neglect, and suggest a new intervention method for acute-phase stroke patients. METHODS: There were 30 patients included in this study from April to October 2016 that had unilateral neglect whilst hospitalized following a stroke (diagnosed by a professional). The participants, who were patients receiving occupational therapy, understood the purpose of the study and agreed to participate. The patients were randomly divided into 3 groups: PA plus FES group (Group A), PA group (Group B), and FES group (Group C). Treatments lasted for 50 minutes per day, 5 times per week, for 3 weeks in total. Reevaluation was conducted after 3 weeks of intervention. RESULTS: All 3 groups showed unilateral neglect reduction after the intervention, but PA plus FES (complex intervention method) was more effective than PA or FES alone [effect size: Motor-free Visual Perception Test (0.80), Albert test (0.98), CBS (0.92)]. CONCLUSION: The results of this study support further studies to examine complex intervention for the treatment of unilateral neglect.

The effect of virtual reality prism adaptation on visuospatial neglect in stroke patients / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

Objective To investigate the effects of virtual reality prism adaptation on visuospatial neglect in stroke patients.Methods Thirty stroke patients with visuospatial neglect were studied.The subjects were divided into atreatment group and a control group.The subjects in the treatment group were treated with virtual reality prism adaptation and routine rehabilitation interventions for 2 weeks,while those in the control group were treated with routine rehabilitation interventions only.All the patients performed a battery of spatial attention tests including line bisection,letter cancellation,clock drawing and the Attention Network Test at the beginning and after 2 weeks of treatment.Results The virtual reality prism adaptation training had significant positive effects on all the measures of visuospatial neglect.Pair-wise comparisons confirmed significant differences between the treatment and control groups after 2 weeks of treatment with regard to all of the measures.Conclusions Virtual reality prism adaptation treatzment combined with routine rehabilitation can be more effective than conventional measures alone in improving the visuospatial performance of stroke survivors.