Prism Adaptation Therapy Shows Promise for some Stroke Victims

A recent study examines stroke rehabilitation and how improvement in spatial neglect with prism adaptation can be a particularly affective treatment. These new findings support behavioral classification of patients with spatial neglect.

Study authors hypothesized that classifying patients by their spatial neglect-such as the Where (perceptional-intentional) versus Aiming (motor-intentional) symptoms could help to better predict the outcome of prism adaptation therapy. They also felt that patients with Aiming symptoms would have a more positive outcome with prism adaption.

For their study, researchers examined 24 study participants with right brain stroke who completed 2 weeks of prism adaptation treatment. The participants also completed the Behavioral Inattention Test and Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) tests of neglect weekly for six weeks.

Study authors note that those with only Aiming deficits improved on the CBS. However those with only Where deficits did not, and patients experiencing both types of deficits demonstrated intermediate improvement.

"These findings suggest that patients with spatial neglect and Aiming deficits may benefit the most from early intervention with prism adaptation therapy," study author A.M. Barrett, M.D., director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research at the Kessier Foundation said, via a press release. "More broadly, classifying spatial deficits using modality-specific measures should be an important consideration of any stroke trial intending to obtain the most valid, applicable, and valuable results for recovery after right brain stroke."  

As Dr. Barrett discusses how spatial neglect is an under-recognized but disabling disorder that can often complicate the recovery of right brain stroke, he notes that, "Our study suggests we need to know what kind of neglect patients have in order to assign treatment." 

More information regarding the study can be found via Neurorehabilitation & Neural Repair.