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1.
Brain Sci ; 14(3)2024 Mar 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38539647

ABSTRACT

Reading disorders are frequent in homonymous hemianopia and are termed hemianopic dyslexia (HD). The existing treatment methods have shown improvements in reading speed, accuracy, and eye movements during reading. Yet, little is known about the transfer effects of such treatments on functional, reading-related tasks of daily life, e.g., reading phone numbers, finding typing errors or text memory. In addition, little is known about the effects on symptom load and return to work. Here, we examined a new reading therapy entailing three different methods-floating text, rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of single words, and the moving window technique-and evaluated their efficacy. Twenty-seven chronic HD patients were treated in a baseline design with treatment-free intervals before and after a treatment period of several months. HD was assessed with a battery of reading tests and a questionnaire about subjective symptom load at four time-points. Patients received all three reading therapies over several weeks. The results show significant and stable improvements during treatment within all measures. Approximately 63% of treated patients returned to work after the therapy. We concluded that our novel HD treatment led to widespread and lasting improvements in reading performance, generalized to functional reading tasks and reduced symptom load, and the majority of patients were able to return to work.

2.
Neuropsychol Rehabil ; 31(6): 837-862, 2021 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32192392

ABSTRACT

Spatial neglect is a frequent, disabling syndrome and is associated with a poor rehabilitation outcome. Return to work seems almost impossible and has not been reported so far. Here, three cases with extensive right-hemisphere lesions after stroke are reported, who all showed residual left visuospatial neglect, left visual extinction on double simultaneous stimulation (DSS), and marked spatial-perceptual deficits. After early inpatient rehabilitation all three patients received specific, successive neuropsychological therapy as outpatients in four domains: (1) Optokinetic stimulation with pursuit eye movements and saccadic eye-movement training to reduce left-sided neglect and improve visual exploration; (2) Anti-extinction training to reduce left-sided visual extinction; (3) Spatial-perceptual feedback training to improve spatial-perceptual disorders and visuoconstruction; and (4) Job-related visual and cognitive treatments. All three cases were treated in sequential single-subject baseline designs. Significant improvements were obtained in all treated domains during therapy, which persisted at follow up. After a period of graded vocational re-integration, all three patients worked successfully in their prior job, two part-time (50%), one full-time (100%). These results show that return to professional (paid) work is possible despite initially severe neglect, hemianopia, visual extinction, and spatial-perceptual disorders after stroke.


Subject(s)
Perceptual Disorders , Stroke , Functional Laterality , Humans , Neuropsychological Tests , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Space Perception , Stroke/complications , Treatment Outcome
3.
Acta Psychol (Amst) ; 190: 103-115, 2018 Oct.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30056328

ABSTRACT

We experience the world as stable and continuous, despite the fact that visual input is overwritten on the retina with each new ocular fixation. Spatial remapping is the process that integrates selected visual information into successive (continuous) representations of our spatial environment, thereby allowing us to keep track of objects, and experience the world as stable, despite frequent eye (re-)fixations. The present paper investigates spatial remapping in the context of visual pop-out search. Within standard instances of the pop-out paradigm, reactions to stimuli at previously attended locations are facilitated (faster and more accurate), and reactions to stimuli at previously ignored locations are inhibited (slower and less accurate). The mechanisms that support facilitation at previously attended locations, and inhibition at previously ignored locations, serve to enhance the efficiency of visual search. It is thus natural to expect that information about which locations were previously attended to or ignored is stored and remapped as a concomitant to successive representations of the spatial environment. Using variants of the pop-out paradigm, we corroborate this expectation, and show that information concerning the prior status of locations, as attended to or ignored, is remapped following attention shifts, with some degradation of information concerning ignored locations.


Subject(s)
Attention/physiology , Cues , Fixation, Ocular/physiology , Photic Stimulation/methods , Saccades/physiology , Space Perception/physiology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Retina/physiology , Young Adult
4.
Neuropsychol Rehabil ; 28(7): 1179-1196, 2018 Oct.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27820972

ABSTRACT

Recent evidence shows that bipolar galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) with the cathode on the left (CL) or right (CR) mastoid ameliorates spatial neglect, extinction and verticality perception transiently and partly permanently. However, no randomised controlled trial evaluated the long-term effects of repetitive GVS in comparison to sham-GVS on exploration and verticality perception. To compare the effects of CL-GVS, CR-GVS and Sham-GVS on spatial exploration and verticality perception in right-hemispheric stroke patients with left neglect we conducted a randomised controlled trial with minimisation. Twenty-four patients completed 10-12 training sessions on a daily basis, 5 days/week. The CL-and CR-GVS group received 20 min of stimulation at 1.5 mA, the Sham-GVS group only 30 s of CL-GVS. Simultaneously, all patients performed a standard therapy of smooth pursuit eye movement training (SPT) followed by visual scanning training (VST). Outcome measures (Neglect test, visuo-tactile search task, subjective visual and tactile vertical) were assessed before and immediately after the intervention and at 2- and 4-week follow-ups. Our results show that neither our standard therapy nor the combination of standard therapy and GVS improved neglect symptoms significantly. The reasons for our non-significant results are discussed.


Subject(s)
Electric Stimulation/methods , Perceptual Disorders/rehabilitation , Space Perception/physiology , Treatment Outcome , Vestibule, Labyrinth/physiology , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Double-Blind Method , Female , Functional Laterality/physiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Photic Stimulation , Touch
5.
Front Neurol ; 8: 411, 2017.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28861036

ABSTRACT

In stroke patients, the clinical presentation of visual field defects (VFDs) is frequently accompanied by visual neglect, i.e., the inability to attend and respond to the contralesional space. However, the diagnostic discrimination between the lack of reactions to contralesional stimuli due to VFDs or visual neglect is challenging during clinical examination. This discrimination is particularly relevant, since both clinical pictures are associated with different therapeutic approaches and outcomes. The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the effectiveness of trunk rotation toward the contralesional side-a manipulation dissociating the coordinate system of the trunk from that of the head and eyes-in disentangling real VFDs from "pseudo-VFDs" that occur due to visual neglect. Twenty patients with a left-sided VFD after a right-hemispheric stroke (10 additionally showing visual neglect in neuropsychological testing, VFD + neglect; 10 without neglect, VFD) were tested with Goldmann perimetry in both standard and trunk rotation conditions. In the standard condition, both VFD and VFD + neglect patients showed a conspicuous narrowing of the left visual field. However, trunk rotation triggered strikingly different patterns of change in the two groups: it elicited a significant increase in visual field extension in the VFD + neglect group, but left visual field extension virtually unchanged in the VFD group. Our results highlight contralesional trunk rotation as a simple, viable manipulation to effectively and rapidly disentangle real VFDs from "pseudo-VFDs" (i.e., due to visual neglect) during clinical examination.

6.
Neuropsychology ; 30(7): 869-73, 2016 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27560301

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The neglect syndrome is frequently associated with neglect dyslexia (ND), which is characterized by omissions or misread initial letters of single words. ND is usually assessed with standardized reading texts in clinical settings. However, particularly in the chronic phase of ND, patients often report reading deficits in everyday situations but show (nearly) normal performances in test situations that are commonly well-structured. To date, sensitive and standardized tests to assess the severity and characteristics of ND are lacking, although reading is of high relevance for daily life and vocational settings. METHOD: Several studies found modulating effects of different word features on ND. We combined those features in a novel test to enhance test sensitivity in the assessment of ND. Low-frequency words of different length that contain residual pronounceable words when the initial letter strings are neglected were selected. We compared these words in a group of 12 ND-patients suffering from right-hemispheric first-ever stroke with word stimuli containing no existing residual words. Finally, we tested whether the serially presented words are more sensitive for the diagnosis of ND than text reading. RESULTS: The severity of ND was modulated strongly by the ND-test words and error frequencies in single word reading of ND words were on average more than 10 times higher than in a standardized text reading test (19.8% vs. 1.8%). CONCLUSION: The novel ND-test maximizes the frequency of specific ND-errors and is therefore more sensitive for the assessment of ND than conventional text reading tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record


Subject(s)
Dyslexia, Acquired/diagnosis , Dyslexia, Acquired/psychology , Perceptual Disorders/diagnosis , Perceptual Disorders/psychology , Semantics , Aged , Cerebral Hemorrhage/diagnosis , Cerebral Hemorrhage/psychology , Cerebral Infarction/diagnosis , Cerebral Infarction/psychology , Female , Hemianopsia/diagnosis , Hemianopsia/psychology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neuropsychological Tests
7.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair ; 30(3): 187-98, 2016 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25967758

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Cerebral vision disorders (CVDs) are frequent after brain damage and impair the patient's outcome. Yet clinically and psychometrically validated procedures for the anamnesis of CVD are lacking. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical validity and psychometric qualities of the Cerebral Vision Screening Questionnaire (CVSQ) for the anamnesis of CVD in individuals poststroke. METHODS: Analysis of the patients' subjective visual complaints in the 10-item CVSQ in relation to objective visual perimetry, tests of reading, visual scanning, visual acuity, spatial contrast sensitivity, light/dark adaptation, and visual depth judgments. Psychometric analyses of concurrent validity, specificity, sensitivity, positive/negative predictive value, and interrater reliability were also done. RESULTS: Four hundred sixty-one patients with unilateral (39.5% left, 47.5% right) or bilateral stroke (13.0%) were included. Most patients were assessed in the chronic stage, on average 36.7 (range = 1-620) weeks poststroke. The majority of all patients (96.4%) recognized their visual symptoms within 1 week poststroke when asked for specifically. Mean concurrent validity of the CVSQ with objective tests was 0.64 (0.54-0.79, P < .05). The mean positive predictive value was 80.1%, mean negative predictive value 82.9%, mean specificity 81.7%, and mean sensitivity 79.8%. The mean interrater reliability was 0.76 for a 1-week interval between both assessments (all P < .05). CONCLUSION: The CVSQ is suitable for the anamnesis of CVD poststroke because of its brevity (10 minute), clinical validity, and good psychometric qualities. It, thus, improves neurovisual diagnosis and guides the clinician in the selection of necessary assessments and appropriate neurovisual therapies for the patient.


Subject(s)
Stroke/diagnosis , Vision Disorders/diagnosis , Vision Screening/methods , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , Chronic Disease , Humans , Middle Aged , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and Specificity , Stroke/complications , Vision Disorders/etiology , Young Adult
10.
Neuropsychologia ; 74: 178-83, 2015 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25744870

ABSTRACT

Stroke of the right cerebral hemisphere often causes deficits in the judgement of the subjective visual vertical (SVV) and subjective tactile vertical (STV) which are related to central vestibular functioning. Clinically, deficits in the SVV/STV are linked to balance problems and poor functional outcome. Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) is a non-invasive, save stimulation technique that induces polarity-specific changes in the cortical vestibular systems. Subliminal GVS induces imperceptible vestibular stimulation without unpleasant side effects. Here, we applied bipolar subliminal GVS over the mastoids (mean intensity: 0.7 mA, 20 min duration per session) to investigate its online-influence on constant errors, difference thresholds and range values in the SVV and STV. 24 patients with subacute, single, unilateral right hemisphere stroke were studied and assigned to two patient groups (impaired vs. normal in the SVV and STV) on the basis of cut-off scores from healthy controls. Both groups performed these tasks under three experimental conditions on three different days: a) sham GVS where electric current was applied only for 30s and then turned off, b) left-cathodal GVS and c) right-cathodal GVS, for a period of 20 min per session. Left-cathodal GVS, but not right-cathodal GVS significantly reduced all parameters in the SVV. Concerning STV GVS also reduced constant error and range numerically, though not significantly. These effects occurred selectively in the impaired patient group. In conclusion, we found that GVS rapidly influences poststroke verticality deficits in the visual and tactile modality, thus highlighting the importance of the vestibular system in the multimodal elaboration of the subjective vertical.


Subject(s)
Electric Stimulation/methods , Functional Laterality/physiology , Perceptual Disorders/rehabilitation , Touch/physiology , Vestibule, Labyrinth/physiology , Visual Perception/physiology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Analysis of Variance , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Photic Stimulation , Stroke/complications
11.
Neuropsychologia ; 69: 31-8, 2015 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25619849

ABSTRACT

The complete loss of binocular depth perception ("flat vision") was first thoroughly described by Holmes and Horrax (1919), and has been occasionally reported thereafter in patients with bilateral posterior-parietal lesions. Though partial spontaneous recovery occurred in some cases, the precise cause(s) of this condition remained obscure for almost a century. Here, we describe a unique patient (EH) with a large right-sided occipito-parietal hemorrhage showing a complete loss of visual depth perception for several months post-stroke. EH could well simultaneously describe multiple visual objects - hence did not show simultanagnosia - but at the same time was completely unable to estimate their distance from him. In every 3-D visual scene objects appeared equidistant to him, thus experiencing a total loss of depth perception ("flat vision"). Neurovisual assessments revealed normal functions of the eyes. EH showed bilateral lower field loss and a severely impaired binocular convergent fusion, but preserved stereopsis. Perceptual re-training of binocular fusion resulted in a progressive and finally complete recovery of objective binocular fusion values and subjective binocular depth perception in a far-to-near-space, gradient-like manner. In parallel, visual depth estimation of relative distances improved, whereas stereopsis remained unchanged. Our results show that a complete loss of 3-D depth perception can result from an isolated impairment in binocular fusion. On a neuroanatomical level, this connection could be explained by a selective lesion of area V6/V6A in the medial occipito-parietal cortex that has been associated with the integration of visual space coordinates and sustained eye-positions into a cyclopean visual 3-D percept.


Subject(s)
Depth Perception/physiology , Parietal Lobe/physiopathology , Perceptual Disorders/physiopathology , Vision Disorders/physiopathology , Vision, Binocular/physiology , Cerebral Hemorrhage/complications , Cerebral Hemorrhage/pathology , Cerebral Hemorrhage/physiopathology , Cerebral Hemorrhage/rehabilitation , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Neuropsychological Tests , Occipital Lobe/pathology , Occipital Lobe/physiopathology , Parietal Lobe/pathology , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Perceptual Disorders/pathology , Perceptual Disorders/rehabilitation , Recovery of Function , Stroke/complications , Stroke/pathology , Stroke/physiopathology , Stroke Rehabilitation , Vision Disorders/etiology , Vision Disorders/pathology , Vision Disorders/rehabilitation , Vision Tests
12.
J Neuropsychol ; 9(2): 299-318, 2015 Sep.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25145402

ABSTRACT

We studied the effects of optokinetic stimulation (OKS; leftward, rightward, control) on the visuo-perceptual and number space, in the same sample, during line bisection and mental number interval bisection tasks. To this end, we tested six patients with right-hemisphere damage and neglect, six patients with right-hemisphere damage but without neglect, and six neurologically healthy participants. In patients with neglect, we found a strong effect of leftward OKS on line bisection, but not on mental number interval bisection. We suggest that OKS influences the number space only under specific conditions.


Subject(s)
Attention/physiology , Nystagmus, Optokinetic/physiology , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Space Perception/physiology , Adult , Aged , Female , Functional Laterality , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neuropsychological Tests , Perceptual Disorders/diagnosis , Photic Stimulation , Psychometrics , Stroke/complications
13.
Neuropsychologia ; 74: 170-7, 2015 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25445776

ABSTRACT

Neglect patients show contralesional deficits in egocentric and object-centred visuospatial tasks. The extent to which these different phenomena are modulated by sensory stimulation remains to be clarified. Subliminal galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) induces imperceptible, polarity-specific changes in the cortical vestibular systems without the unpleasant side effects (nystagmus, vertigo) induced by caloric vestibular stimulation. While previous studies showed vestibular stimulation effects on egocentric spatial neglect phenomena, such effects were rarely demonstrated in object-centred neglect. Here, we applied bipolar subsensory GVS over the mastoids (mean intensity: 0.7mA) to investigate its influence on egocentric (digit cancellation, text copying), object-centred (copy of symmetrical figures), or both (line bisection) components of visual neglect in 24 patients with unilateral right hemisphere stroke. Patients were assigned to two patient groups (impaired vs. normal in the respective task) on the basis of cut-off scores derived from the literature or from normal controls. Both groups performed all tasks under three experimental conditions carried out on three separate days: (a) sham/baseline GVS where no electric current was applied, (b) left cathodal/right anodal (CL/AR) GVS and (c) left anodal/right cathodal (AL/CR) GVS, for a period of 20min per session. CL/AR GVS significantly improved line bisection and text copying whereas AL/CR GVS significantly ameliorated figure copying and digit cancellation. These GVS effects were selectively observed in the impaired- but not in the unimpaired patient group. In conclusion, subliminal GVS modulates ego- and object-centred components of visual neglect rapidly. Implications for neurorehabilitation are discussed.


Subject(s)
Electric Stimulation/methods , Functional Laterality/physiology , Perceptual Disorders/physiopathology , Perceptual Disorders/therapy , Psychomotor Performance/physiology , Vestibule, Labyrinth/physiology , Adaptation, Psychological/physiology , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Analysis of Variance , Case-Control Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Space Perception/physiology
14.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair ; 28(6): 554-63, 2014 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24407913

ABSTRACT

UNLABELLED: Background Neglect is associated with disability, unawareness, poor long-term outcome, and dependence from caregivers. No randomized trial has evaluated the effects of smooth pursuit eye movement training (SPT) and visual scanning training (VST) at the bedside on these variables. Objective To compare the effects of SPT and VST in postacute stroke at 1 month with left neglect. METHODS: We carried out an assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial. The 24 participants were randomly allocated to either SPT or VST (n = 12 each). They received 20 treatment sessions lasting 30 minutes each at the bedside over 4 weeks. Outcome measures included the Functional Neglect Index (FNI) based on 4 tasks: find objects on a tray, stick bisection, picture search, and gaze orientation. In addition, the Unawareness and Behavioral Neglect Index (UBNI) with 6 items about unawareness and 4 about neglect in activities of daily living, the Help index (required assistance in 10 functional activities), the Barthel Index, and the rehabilitation phase were rated by treatment-blinded assessors. Outcome measures were obtained before and immediately after the end of the interventions and at a 2-week follow-up. Results Significantly greater improvements were obtained after SPT versus VST treatment in the FNI and UBNI, and there were continued improvements selectively in the SPT group 2 weeks later. Conclusions SPT accelerates recovery from functional neglect and reduces unawareness significantly. Bedside neglect treatment using SPT is effective and feasible early after stroke.


Subject(s)
Activities of Daily Living , Hemianopsia/therapy , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Perceptual Disorders/therapy , Pursuit, Smooth/physiology , Stroke Rehabilitation/methods , Stroke/therapy , Visual Perception/physiology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Hemianopsia/etiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Single-Blind Method , Stroke/complications
15.
Neuropsychology ; 28(3): 382-7, 2014 May.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24188115

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Hypoxic brain damage is characterized by widespread, diffuse-disseminated brain lesions, which may cause severe disturbances in binocular vision, leading to diplopia and loss of stereopsis, for which no evaluated treatment is currently available. The study evaluated the effects of a novel binocular vision treatment designed to improve binocular fusion and stereopsis as well as to reduce diplopia in patients with cerebral hypoxia. METHOD: Four patients with severely reduced convergent fusion, stereopsis, and reading duration due to hypoxic brain damage were treated in a single-subject baseline design, with three baseline assessments before treatment to control for spontaneous recovery (pretherapy), an assessment immediately after a treatment period of 6 weeks (posttherapy), and two follow-up tests 3 and 6 months after treatment to assess stability of improvements. Patients received a novel fusion and dichoptic training using 3 different devices designed to slowly increase fusional and disparity angle. RESULTS: After the treatment, all 4 patients improved significantly in binocular fusion, subjective reading duration until diplopia emerged, and 2 of 4 patients improved significantly in local stereopsis. No significant changes were observed during the pretherapy baseline period and the follow-up period, thus ruling out spontaneous recovery and demonstrating long-term stability of treatment effects. CONCLUSIONS: This proof-of-principle study indicates a substantial treatment-induced plasticity after hypoxia in the relearning of binocular vision and offers a viable treatment option. Moreover, it provides new hope and direction for the development of effective rehabilitation strategies to treat neurovisual deficits resulting from hypoxic brain damage.


Subject(s)
Depth Perception/physiology , Hypoxia, Brain/complications , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Vision Disorders/rehabilitation , Vision, Binocular/physiology , Adult , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Orthoptics/methods , Perceptual Disorders/diagnosis , Perceptual Disorders/therapy , Treatment Outcome , Vision Disorders/physiopathology , Young Adult
16.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair ; 28(3): 207-18, 2014.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24048623

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) are one of the most common consequences of stroke. Compensatory training encourages affected individuals to develop more efficient eye movements to improve function. However, training is typically supervised, which can be time consuming and costly. OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of an unsupervised reading and exploration computer training for individuals with HVFDs. METHODS: Seventy individuals with chronic HVFDs were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: intervention or control. The former received 35 hours of reading and exploration training, and the latter received 35 hours of control training. Visual and attentional abilities were assessed before and after training using perimetry, visual search, reading, activities of daily living, the Test of Everyday Attention, and a Sustained Attention to Response task. RESULTS: Eighteen individuals failed to complete the training; analyses were conducted on the remaining 28 intervention and 24 control group participants. Individuals in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in the primary outcomes of exploration (12.87%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.44% to 17.30%) and reading (18.45%, 95% CI = 9.93% to 26.97%), which were significantly greater than those observed following the control intervention (exploration = 4.80%, 95% CI = 0.09% to 9.51%; reading = 1.95%, 95% CI = -4.78% to 8.68%). Participants in the intervention group also reported secondary subjective improvements, although these were not matched by objective gains in tasks simulating activities of daily living. CONCLUSIONS: Home-based compensatory training is an inexpensive accessible rehabilitation option for individuals with HVFDs, which can result in objective benefits in searching and reading, as well as improving quality of life.


Subject(s)
Hemianopsia/rehabilitation , Reading , Therapy, Computer-Assisted , Activities of Daily Living , Analysis of Variance , Attention , Feasibility Studies , Female , Health Care Costs , Hemianopsia/etiology , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Patient Dropouts , Self Care , Task Performance and Analysis , Time Factors , Treatment Outcome , Visual Field Tests , Visual Fields , Visual Perception
17.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair ; 28(5): 462-71, 2014 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24376065

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Brain lesions may disturb binocular fusion and stereopsis, leading to blurred vision, diplopia, and reduced binocular depth perception for which no evaluated treatment is currently available. Objective The study evaluated the effects of a novel binocular vision treatment designed to improve convergent fusional amplitude and stereoacuity in patients with stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods Patients (20 in all: 11 with stroke, 9 with TBI) were tested in fusional convergence, stereoacuity, near/far visual acuity, accommodation, and subjective binocular reading time until diplopia emerged at 6 different time points. All participants were treated in a single subject baseline design, with 3 baseline assessments before treatment (pretherapy), an assessment immediately after a 6-week treatment period (posttherapy), and 2 follow-up tests 3 and 6 months after treatment. Patients received a novel fusion and dichoptic training using 3 different devices to slowly increase fusional and disparity angles. Results At pretherapy, the stroke and TBI groups showed severe impairments in convergent fusional range, stereoacuity, subjective reading duration, and partially in accommodation (only TBI group). After treatment, both groups showed considerable improvements in all these variables as well as slightly increased near visual acuity. No significant changes were observed during the pretherapy and follow-up periods, ruling out spontaneous recovery and demonstrating long-term stability of binocular treatment effects. Conclusions This proof-of-principle study indicates a substantial treatment-induced plasticity of the lesioned brain in the relearning of binocular fusion and stereovision, thus providing new, effective rehabilitation strategies to treat binocular vision deficits resulting from permanent visual cortical damage.


Subject(s)
Brain Injuries/rehabilitation , Depth Perception/physiology , Learning/physiology , Stroke Rehabilitation/methods , Vision Disorders/rehabilitation , Vision, Binocular/physiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Brain Injuries/complications , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Stroke/complications , Treatment Outcome , Vision Disorders/etiology , Visual Acuity/physiology , Young Adult
18.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair ; 27(9): 789-98, 2013.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23797459

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: No treatment for auditory neglect and no randomized controlled trial evaluating smooth pursuit eye movement therapy (SPT) for multimodal neglect are available. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of SPT and visual scanning therapy (VST) on auditory and visual neglect in chronic stroke patients with neglect. METHODS: A randomized, prospective trial was conducted. Fifty patients with left auditory and visual neglect were randomly assigned. Twenty-four patients completed SPT therapy and 21 patients VST. Five patients (4 VST, 1 SPT) were lost. Each group received 1-hour sessions of neglect therapy for 5 consecutive days totaling 5 hours. Outcome measures in visual neglect (digit cancellation, visuoperceptual- and motor line bisection, paragraph reading) and auditory neglect (auditory midline) were assessed twice before therapy, thereafter, and at 2-week follow-up. The SPT group practiced smooth pursuit eye movements while tracking stimuli moving leftward. The VST group systematically scanned the same but static stimuli. Both groups were divided into subgroups, and effects were separately investigated for mild and severe neglect. RESULTS: Both groups did not differ before therapy in clinical/demographic variables or neglect severity (auditory/visual). After treatment, the SPT group showed significant and lasting improvements in all visual measures and normal performance in the auditory midline. Neither visual nor auditory neglect impairments changed significantly after VST. Moreover, the treatment effect sizes (Cohen's d) were considerably higher for visual and auditory neglect after SPT versus VST, both for mild and severe neglect. CONCLUSIONS: Repetitive contralesional, smooth pursuit training induces superior, multimodal therapeutic effects in mild and severe neglect.


Subject(s)
Auditory Perception/physiology , Perceptual Disorders/rehabilitation , Physical Therapy Modalities , Pursuit, Smooth , Visual Perception/physiology , Adult , Aged , Chronic Disease , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Perceptual Disorders/physiopathology , Recovery of Function , Stroke/complications , Stroke/physiopathology , Stroke Rehabilitation
19.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair ; 27(6): 534-41, 2013.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23471178

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Unilateral neglect due to parieto-temporo-frontal lesions has a negative impact on the success of rehabilitation, and prism adaptation (PA) enhances recovery from neglect. However, it is unclear if this effect holds also in severely impaired patients and/or in the postacute phase of rehabilitation. Moreover, it is not known whether PA affects all aspects of neglect recovery or ego-centered spatial orientation only. METHODS: Sixteen patients in a postacute stage (on average 36 days after a large right cerebrovascular stroke) were entered into a series of single case design studies with 4 measurements: 2 before and 2 after 1 week of PA treatment. All patients had severe neglect (showing trunk, head, and eye deviation; canceling less than 20% of targets in a visual cancellation test). Lesions were transferred to a standard brain to analyze size and location. RESULTS: Patients improved in cued body orientation and in the cancellation task, that is, in ego-centered neglect. However, none of the measures used to evaluate neglect of left side of objects irrespective of their position on the right or left side of the patient (allocentric neglect) showed an improvement. Treatment effects were not influenced by total lesion size, but lesions including the postcentral cortex were related to smaller recovery gains. CONCLUSION: PA is helpful in treating severely impaired patients in the postacute phase, but the effect is restricted to ego-centered neglect. Lesions in the postcentral cortex (middle occipito-temporal, middle temporal, and posterior parietal areas) seem to limit the effect of PA.


Subject(s)
Adaptation, Ocular/physiology , Ego , Lenses , Perceptual Disorders/rehabilitation , Space Perception/physiology , Aged , Brain Injuries/complications , Cerebral Cortex/pathology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Orientation , Perceptual Disorders/etiology , Statistics, Nonparametric , Time Factors
20.
Neuropsychologia ; 51(5): 893-9, 2013 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23466351

ABSTRACT

The human brain is organized asymmetrically in two hemispheres with different functional specializations. Left- and right-handers differ in many functional capacities and their anatomical representations. Right-handers often show a stronger functional lateralization than left-handers, the latter showing a more bilateral, symmetrical brain organization. Recent functional imaging evidence shows a different lateralization of the cortical vestibular system towards the side of the preferred hand in left- vs. right-handers as well. Since the vestibular system is involved in somatosensory processing and the coding of body position, vestibular stimulation should affect such capacities differentially in left- vs. right-handers. In the present, sham-stimulation-controlled study we explored this hypothesis by studying the effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) on proprioception in both forearms in left- and right-handers. Horizontal arm position sense (APS) was measured with an opto-electronic device. Second, the polarity-specific online- and after-effects of subsensory, bipolar GVS on APS were investigated in different sessions separately for both forearms. At baseline, both groups did not differ in their unsigned errors for both arms. However, right-handers showed significant directional errors in APS of both arms towards their own body. Right-cathodal/left-anodal GVS, resulting in right vestibular cortex activation, significantly deteriorated left APS in right-handers, but had no detectable effect on APS in left-handers in either arm. These findings are compatible with a right-hemisphere dominance for vestibular functions in right-handers and a differential vestibular organization in left-handers that compensates for the disturbing effects of GVS on APS. Moreover, our results show superior arm proprioception in left-handers in both forearms.


Subject(s)
Arm/innervation , Functional Laterality/physiology , Hand/innervation , Posture/physiology , Vestibule, Labyrinth/physiology , Aged , Electric Stimulation , Female , Hand Strength/physiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Movement , Statistics, Nonparametric
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