A randomized controlled trial about the effectiveness of prism adaptation therapy on patients with unilateral spatial neglect

INTERVENTION: Patients were seated at a desk on which a wooden table (height 30 cm) was placed. The top of the table had a semicircular shape with a radius of 30 cm, and three targets were marked at the center, right and left corners of its edge. Patients were asked to point to the three targets through the bottom of the table with their index finger according to the instruction of the therapists who directed three points randomly to the patients. First, they repeated the pointing task thirty times without prism glasses. Then they wore prism glasses which sifted their visual field 12 degrees to the right, and repeated pointing ninety times. After the prism adaptation, they took the prism glasses off and repeated pointing sixty times. Patients underwent two daily training sessions which took about 20 minutes for each, 5 days a week for 2 weeks, giving a total of 20 sessions. The interventions occurred during their regularly scheduled rehabilitation sessions and all other routine interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation was provided as usual. Patients of the control group underwent the same training sessions with neutral plastic glasses instead of the prisms glasses. The interventions occurred during their regularly scheduled rehabilitation sessions and all other routine interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation was provided as usual. CONDITION: Patients with left unilateral spatial neglect caused by cerebral stroke PRIMARY OUTCOME: Behavioral inattention test (BIT), Catherine Bergego scale (CBS); Time of assessment:at admission, just after intervention, at discharge SECONDARY OUTCOME: Motor score of stroke impairment assessment set (SIAS), Functional independence measure (FIM); Time of assessment:at admission, just after intervention, at discharge INCLUSION CRITERIA: (1) first ever hemiparetic stroke, (2) admission within 3 months after the stroke onset, (3) right hemisphere damage (4)no severe cognitive impairment (Mini‐Mental State Examination: MMSE>15 (5) at least one item scoring less than the cut off value in the standard test of the Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT).