Immersive virtual reality to assess unilateral spatial neglect in stroke patients: a preliminary study.
Chloé Sauvage, Pierre Chaulet, Luana Rivas Lopez and 4 others
PMID 39749421WHAT IT FOUND
VR cancellation testing showed broadly similar time and performance to paper-and-pencil Bells testing, and was feasible and acceptable in 32 stroke patients.
It detected neglect in all but one neglect patient in ecological VR.
Key findings
01VR cancellation testing was feasible and acceptable: over 94% responded positively about ease and usefulness, less than 11% found it boring, stressful or frustrating, and 18% reported minor unpleasant sensations without needing to stop.
02In the whole sample, the VR Bells test agreed well with paper-and-pencil testing: reliability was high for total bells cancelled and left-right difference, and completion time did not differ across modalities.
03The three test modalities identified neglect in the six neglect patients except one in ecological VR, and neglect patients cancelled fewer bells and showed larger left-right differences than no-neglect patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot study with only 32 patients, including 6 with neglect, so findings about neglect patients are very uncertain. The study reports assessment performance and patient experience, not treatment outcomes. Only patients without severe cognitive impairment, language comprehension difficulties, or visual and motor deficits that would hinder assessment were included, so results may not apply to more impaired stroke patients. The ecological VR condition missed one neglect patient, so agreement was not perfect. Unpleasant sensations were reported by 18% of patients, but their intensity and type were not studied.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that VR assessment is better than paper-and-pencil testing or that it should replace standard neglect assessment. The study had only 6 neglect patients, and the ecological VR condition missed one neglect patient.