The effects of prism adaptation on daily life activities in patients with visuospatial neglect: a systematic review

Abstract

Studies that have investigated prism adaptation (PA) effects on symptoms of visuospatial neglect have primarily used neuropsychological tests as outcome measures. An important question that remains to be answered is whether PA effects translate into improvements in patients' daily life activities. In the present review, we examined systematically the evidence for the effect of PA treatment on daily life activities in patients with neglect. Two authors independently assessed the methodological quality of 25 intervention and 1 follow-up studies using validated scales. PA effects were evaluated for reading/writing, activities of daily living (ADL) direct tests, ADL questionnaires, and navigation tests. Studies were evaluated as being of excellent (n = 1), good (n = 12), fair (n = 10), or poor (n = 3) quality. Among the 26 articles, a total of 32 measurements showed significant PA effects (one measurement from a study of excellent quality, 17 from studies of good quality, 10 from studies of fair quality, four from studies of poor quality), whereas non-significant effects were found in 15 measurements (two from a study of excellent quality, three from studies of good quality, eight from studies of fair quality, two from studies of poor quality). There is some evidence suggesting that PA can improve daily functioning, particularly as measured by reading/writing and ADL direct tests. The impact of several variables on PA effects should be investigated further including sample heterogeneity and time since injury.

New Directions in Treatments Targeting Stroke Recovery

“…Mirror therapy, or prism adaptation therapy, uses simple equipment to focus a patient’s attention on a neglected hemifield. Mirror therapy, generally provided as an adjunct to conventional therapy, can improve motor function and reduce pain 6 and might improve activities of daily living 7 . Mirror therapy studies have been limited by small sample sizes and methodological limitations.…”

Efficacy of home-based visuomotor feedback training in stroke patients with chronic hemispatial neglect

“…Therefore, neglect rehabilitation remains a challenging problem and currently no rehabilitation approach has been recommended for clinical implementation (Bowen et al, 2013). Nevertheless, significant immediate effects in favour of cognitive rehabilitation vs. control treatments on standardised neglect tests justify the need for further well-designed clinical trials (Bowen et al, 2013; see also Cappa et al, 2005;Champod, Frank, Taylor, & Eskes, 2016;Cicerone et al, 2005;Priftis, Passarini, Pilosio, Meneghello, & Pitteri, 2013).…”

Adaptation to a Space-variant Visuomotor Delay can Cause Neglect-like Effects on Drawing Symmetry

“…Such asymmetry was also observed as a result of exposing participants to spatial shift by using prism adaptation, which was also proved to assist in shifting the perceived midline of neglect patients (Smith and Bowen, 1980, Adair and Barrett, 2008, Champod et al, 2016. It was suggested that the adaptation process is the fundamental cause for improving neglect symptoms.…”