Multisensory Rehabilitation of Hemianopia

Not Applicable

Recruiting

Conditions: Hemianopia

Interventions: Device: multisensory rehabilitation paradigm

Registration Number: NCT04963075

Lead Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Brief Summary: The current proposal is to generate "proof of concept" evidence that hemianopia can be successfully rehabilitated in humans when this multisensory rehabilitation paradigm is used.

Detailed Description: The over-arching objective is to evaluate the functional recovery of vision in hemianopic patients engaged with a multisensory training paradigm. Unilaterally blind participants will participate in weekly training sessions in which they are exposed to high-density spatiotemporally congruent and consistent visual-auditory stimulation. The participants will be tested on a battery of visual tasks probing different levels of function in different environments in a longitudinal study to track recovery.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: RECRUITING

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 6

Inclusion Criteria

adults (<85) of either sex
diagnosis of a stable homonymous hemianopia (>6 months) with absence of hemineglect
lesion encompassing at least primary visual cortex but sparing parietal cortex
normal auditory and cognitive function
willingness to participate in the three month program
ability to perform the visual discriminations in their intact field

Exclusion Criteria

adults (>85)
normal auditory and cognitive function
unwilling to participate in the three month program
inability to perform the visual discriminations in their intact field

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Unilaterally blind Subjects will be exposed to visual-auditory stimulation	multisensory rehabilitation paradigm	The over-arching objective is to evaluate the functional recovery of vision in hemianopic patients engaged with a multisensory training paradigm. Unilaterally blind participants will participate in weekly training sessions in which they are exposed to high-density spatiotemporally congruent and consistent visual-auditory stimulation. The participants will be tested on a battery of visual tasks probing different levels of function in different environments in a longitudinal study to track recovery.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Reaction time	3 months	To assess recovery of function - reaction time of visual detection (continuous variable, lower values are "better")
Distance between perceived and actual stimulus location	3 months	To assess recovery of function - localization accuracy/error (continuous variable, lower error is "better")
Number of points detected	3 months	To assess recovery of function - number of detected visual points in both hemifields (discrete count variable, higher values are "better")
Humphrey visual field test	Month 3	The Humphrey visual field test measures the entire area of peripheral vision that can be seen while the eye is focused on a central point. The Humphrey visual field test can also be used to detect conditions within the optic nerve of the eye, and certain neurological conditions as well. A normal visual field measures about 90 degrees temporally, 50 degrees superiorly and nasally, and 60 degrees inferiorly. (higher scores are better)
Low-vision visual functioning questionnaire (LV-VFQ-48)	Month 3	information processing, and visual motor skills) and overall visual ability estimated from difficulty ratings using the 48-item Veterans Affairs Low-Vision Visual Functioning Questionnaire. The difficulty of each item is rated using the ordered response categories (lower is "better"): (1) not difficult, (2) slightly/moderately difficult, (3) extremely difficult, and (4) impossible. Patients were also allowed to respond that they do not perform an activity for nonvisual reasons.