Spatial Neglect in Stroke Patients

Abstract

Spatial neglect (SN) is a heterogeneous syndrome that occurs in individuals after acquired brain injury. It is a disorder of spatial attention, with a negative impact on the individual's functional status and independence psychosocial abilities, with adverse effects on rehabilitation outcomes.SN can be observed during reading and writing tasks in the Speech and Language Therapist's office. Because of the great variability of SN symptoms, it has been suggested that complex diagnostic methods for SN assessment should be utilised.The choice of the appropriate diagnostic tools can be key in revealing the type of neglect and subsequently in setting up an optimal therapeutic approach for SN treatment. However, the most widely used diagnostic tools have been paper-pencil tests, despite their inadequate sensitivity and inability to detect subvariants of SN, especially regarding the functional status of the individual.In addition, a wide number of SN treatment approaches have been described, yet there has been no clear consensus among professionals regarding the optimal SN treatment method selection. An example of the most frequently employed approaches is optokinetic stimulation. Another example that has gained substantial popularity in recent years is the prism adaptation treatment, that utilises the effect of lateral shifting of the visual field using prism lenses.

Keywords

• spatial neglect
• neglect dyslexia
• acquired brain injury
• prism adaptation treatment
• catherine bergego scale