Tuebingen visual search / saccade training programme (VISIOcoach)

The University of Tuebingen Low Vision Clinic produces a saccadic training programme for patients with hemianopia, VISIOcoach.  It encourages saccdes into the blind hemifield.  It's based on this 2009 publication in the journal Neurology.  It costs around 300 Euros + tax.  The authors don't have any financial interest (which is reassuring).

Vycor Medical buys NovaVision

NovaVision, the US company producing a controversial visual rehabilitation programme, has been bought by Vycor Medical, producers of neurosurgical retraction devices.  The NovaVision method has been around for some years since their original trial was published in Nature Medicine.  Unfortunately this trial was very significantly flawed, and the method has been the subject of controversy ever since.

News article on completion of Vycor acquisition (12 January 2011)


News article on commencement of Vycor acquisition (11 November 2010)

Cochrane Review of Interventions for Visual Field Loss after Stroke

The provisional findings of the recent Cochrane Review of Interventions for Visual Field Loss after Stroke were presented at the UK Stroke Forum 2010. Click this link to download the poster (PDF format).  The recommendations are currently under peer review.

Reading impairment in Stroke - UK Stroke Forum podcast

Dr Fiona Rowe, Liverpool University, describes a study of reading impairment in stroke, part of the VIS (Vision in Stroke) study, in this UK Stroke Forum Podcast

Durham University, Press Release on Visual Rehab Technique

The University of Durham is developing a computer-based visual rehabilitation technique.  Click here to view the press release (May 2010).  They published a study looking at visual search and attention training in patients with hemianopia due to a range of causes.  Click here to view their research paper, published in Brain, June 2010.  There's still some way to go, but this paper raises interesting issues about different training methods, along with a discussion of the relationship between rehabilitation outcomes, visual search, reading, and visual field measurements.

Larry Weiskrantz on the discovery of "Blindsight"

In The Psychologist, April 2010, "Blindsight in Hindsight", Larry Weiskrantz describes the discovery of blindsight - visual response without conscious perception, in patients with visual cortex damage.

UK Stroke Association prioritises visual impairment

At a meeting today, the Chief Executive of the Stroke Association, Jon Barrick, named visual impairment in stroke as one of their top six priority areas over the next 5 years.  See the Stroke Association Manifesto 2010 to 2015