The HEP-OKS Pilot Study - a Randomized Controlled Trial of Hemifield Eye Patching and Optokinetic Stimulation to Treat Hemispatial Neglect in Stroke Patients
The HEP-OKS Pilot Study - a Randomized Controlled Trial of Hemifield Eye Patching and Optokinetic Stimulation to Treat Hemispatial Neglect in Stroke Patients
Spatial neglect represents one of the major cognitive disorders following stroke. Patients patients fail to be aware of objects or people to their left and orientate instead to their right side. Enduring neglect has been found to be a poor prognostic indicator for functional independence following stroke. Despite some promising experimental accounts there are no established treatments for this condition.
The aim of this study is to test whether a combined treatment with hemifield eye patching (HEP) and optokinetic stimulation (OKS) can permanently reduce neglect behaviour and improve functional outcome in patients with hemispatial neglect following stroke.
The investigators hypothesise that the treatment with HEP and OKS will lead to a greater reduction of neglect scoring in the neglect test battery as well as a greater improvement in functional independence scores as compared to the spontaneous clinical course of the usual-care control group.
To specify, this study should answer the following main question: Does the daily wearing of hemifield eye patches over a period of 1 week in combination with daily sessions of optokinetic stimulation lead to a significant reduction of neglect behaviour as measured by total scores in a paper-and-pencil neglect test battery and/or an improvement in functional independence scores (Catherine-Bergego-Scale, Barthel Index) in a cohort of stroke patients with acute hemispatial neglect as compared to the spontaneous course of the disease in a control patient group without a neglect-specific treatment?
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