Therapy improves visual field defect

Boston-More than 70% of stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors with homonymous visual-field defects demonstrated a visual field improvement of more than 3% following a six-module course of vision restoration therapy, according to a study released by NovaVision.

The study involved 161 patients from 16 U.S. centers who underwent a 6-month course of the company's Vision Restoration Therapy (VRT). Patients experienced an average 12% improvement in stimulus detection.

Previous studies suggest people who regain 3% improvement or more have functional improvements that may include enhanced quality of life, better reading ability, and the ability to watch television. Functional outcomes were not measured in this study. Age, type of visual-field defect, or the amount of time since the injury did not affect results.