Effect of Visual Retraining After Stroke

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · Oct 31, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how a special type of visual retraining might help people who have lost part of their vision due to damage in the brain caused by a stroke. The researchers want to understand how this damage affects the way the remaining parts of the visual system work, how people see and are aware of space around them, and how their brain processes visual information. The goal is to see if intensive visual training can improve vision and help people use what they see better in everyday life.

People who may be eligible to join are adults between 21 and 80 years old who have had a stroke or similar brain injury that caused damage to the part of the brain responsible for vision, resulting in reliable vision loss in both eyes. Participants need to have normal thinking abilities, be able to follow instructions in English, and have access to a computer and internet at home because the training will be done independently online over several months. People with other eye diseases, severe vision problems, or certain brain or cognitive conditions would not be eligible. If you join, you can expect to complete visual tests and participate in intensive training exercises designed to help your brain process visual information better, with the hope of improving your vision and daily functioning.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• • Cortically Blind Subjects
• Inclusion:
• • Between 21 and 80 years of age
• • Residents of the United States or Canada
• • Unilateral stroke or stroke-like damage to primary visual cortex or its immediate afferent white matter sustained within the specified age range (21-75 years)
• • Reliable visual field defects in both eyes as measured by Humphrey, MAIA, Goldmann, and/or equivalent perimetry, large enough to enclose a 5-deg diameter visual stimulus.
• • Able to fixate on visual targets reliably for 1000ms
• • Must have a home computer (desktop or laptop) and reliable internet access
• • Willing, able, and competent to provide informed consent
• • Normal cognitive abilities, able to understand written and oral instructions in English, and competent and responsible adults in order to complete the visual training at home, independently, as instructed, for several months.
• Exclusion:
• • Past or present eye disease interfering with visual acuity
• • BCVA worse than 20/40 in either eye
• • Damage to the dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
• • Diffuse whole brain degenerative processes
• • History of traumatic brain injury
• • Any other brain damage deemed by study staff to potentially interfere with training ability or outcome measures
• • Documented history of drug/alcohol abuse
• • Currently taking neuroactive medications which would impact training, as determined by PI
• • Presence of cognitive or seizure disorders
• • One-sided attentional neglect
• • Subjects who lack the competence or are otherwise unable to perform the visual training exercises as directed.
• • Control Subjects (n = 50)
• Inclusion:
• • Between 21 and 80 years of age
• • Report no history of neurological disorder.
• • Competent and responsible, as determined by the Principal Investigator.
• Exclusion:
• • Presence of damage to the visual system
• • Presence of an active disease process involving their nervous system.
• • Cognitive or seizure disorders
• • Best corrected visual acuity worse than 20/40 in either eye
• • Presence of vision field loss from ocular disease or disorder