Rehabilitation of Visual and Perceptual Dysfunction after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

摘要

The overall aim was to conduct preliminary evaluations of a new rehabilitation strategy and new functional assessment methods for homonymous hemianopia (HH) and spatial neglect (SN), disabling visual and cognitive perception conditions that commonly occur as a result of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke. Both HH and SN prevent detection of objects on the affected side, resulting in unsafe walking and driving. Using realistic tasks in virtual environments representative of everyday mobility challenges we evaluated a novel optical device expansion prism (EP) glasses - combined with a new computerized perceptual-motor training regimen in helping people with HH and SN detect and avoid obstacles on the affected side. In the first year we developed the training software and prepared the functional assessments. In the second and third years we made excellent progress in recruiting and running participants, with a total of 40 participants screened and 24 enrolled. There were at least 15 visits per participant (total about 50 hours), including about 6 visits for intensive computerized perceptual-motor training. Preliminary results are encouraging.