Caloric vestibular stimulation and postural control in patients with spatial neglect following stroke.

The impact of spatial neglect remains a substantial challenge to patients undergoing rehabilitation following stroke. Beyond the relatively well-described implications for visuospatial function, neglect is increasingly shown to have a negative impact on the wider aspects of sensori-motor performance with corresponding implications for activities including gait and balance. Caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS) administered to the contralesional ear has previously been shown to improve performance in patients with spatial neglect. Here, in Experiment One, we investigated the effect of CVS on clinical measures of spatial neglect and postural control in three groups of patients following stroke; left brain damaged patients (LBD, n = 6), right brain damaged patients without neglect (RBD-, n = 6), and right brain damaged patients with neglect (RBD+ , n = 6). While post-stimulation scores demonstrated an improvement for participants with spatial neglect, further analysis of postural scores indicated that improvement was selective for asymmetrical activities, with symmetrical activities remaining unchanged. We interpret these results with reference to the related problem of extinction which predicts that activities demanding synchronous bilateral activity (symmetrical activities) would cause greater difficulties for patients with neglect. In Experiment Two, we tested a further six RBD+ patients on the same measures following CVS to the ipsilesional (right) ear. There was no significant improvement in perceptual or postural scores. Our findings are supportive of previous studies that demonstrate improvement in perception and movement for patients with spatial neglect following contralesional CVS and suggest that these improvements may have clinical benefits.

Nominal group technique to establish the core components of home-based rehabilitation for survivors of stroke with severe disability.

In the UK, over 20% of patients leaving hospital after a stroke will be severely disabled. Despite this, limited clinical guidance is available to teams tasked with providing support for this complex population at home. Additionally, many areas across the UK are not commissioned to treat this patient cohort, leaving them with no specialist support on discharge. OBJECTIVES: To establish core components of home-based rehabilitation for survivors of stroke with severe disability, based on expert panel consensus. SETTING: Virtual nominal group technique (vNGT) across the UK. PARTICIPANTS: Experts in the field of stroke rehabilitation (n=14) including researchers, clinicians and those with lived experience. METHODS: Two vNGT were completed using a freely available online platform, Microsoft Teams. The technique's five stages were completed virtually; introduction, silent idea generation, round robin, clarifications and scoring. Statements were analysed for consensus, those achieving consensus underwent content analysis to form rich overarching consensus statements. RESULTS: A combined total of 421 statements achieved positive consensus (>75% in agreement), which formed 11 overarching consensus statements. These outline key components of home-based rehabilitation for survivors of stroke with severe disability including the structure and members of the team, as well as the skills and knowledge required. CONCLUSION: The consensus statements highlight the complexity of managing patients with severe stroke disability following discharge from hospital. This study has the potential to support the provision of services for this patient group, providing a benchmark for commissioners and clinicians as well as setting expectations for stroke survivors and their carers. What remains unknown is how many services currently offer this service to patients with severe disability.