Comparative Efficacy of Saccadic and Biofeedback Training in Homonymous Hemianopia

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Status: Begins enrollment this month

Conditions: Hemianopia, Homonymous

Treatments: Behavioral: Biofeedback Fixation Training; Behavioral: Saccadic Reading Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06638619

IRB-300013228

000

Details and patient eligibility

About

This pilot study aims to understand how eye movements change in people with vision loss from stroke after completing one of two types of training. The study will look at how eye movements and reading performance change after training. Researchers will compare the results of two groups: one group will complete five clinical training sessions using an eye-tracking machine for 30 minutes each, while the other group will do at-home reading exercises for 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks. The goal is to see if there is a difference in performance between the two types of training.

Enrollment: 20 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 89 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosis of stroke
• Presence of hemianopia with central vision involvement
• Stroke occurred at least 6-months before enrollment

Exclusion criteria

• Presence of hemianopia with macular sparing
• Diagnosis of hemispatial neglect

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

20 participants in 2 patient groups

Biofeedback Fixation Arm

Experimental group

Description:

Biofeedback training is a mind-body therapy that helps people learn to control their involuntary bodily functions, such as eye movements. The goal is to improve eye movement control to improve gaze stability.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Biofeedback Fixation Training

Saccadic Reading Arm

Active Comparator group

Description:

Saccadic reading training helps people to learn to control their involuntary eye movements. The goal is to improve eye movement control to improve saccadic and fixational behaviors during reading activities.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Saccadic Reading Training