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A Systematic Research Review Assessing the Effectiveness of Pursuit Interventions in Spatial Neglect Following Stroke

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Abstract

Rehabilitation after stroke is imperative for patients with spatial neglect as it can help improve behavioural, social and cognitive outcomes in these patients, and therefore reduce the financial burden on public health services. The main aim of this review is to investigate the effectiveness of active pursuit eye movements for rehabilitation interventions in patients with spatial neglect following stroke. Potential papers for inclusion were gathered by searching key terms in four main databases (AMED, Global Health, PubMed/Medline and PsychInfo) in addition to screening relevant reference lists. Two reviewers independently selected papers for inclusion based on agreed inclusion criteria (n = 9 with 147 participants). Risk of bias was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool. All papers reported a statistically significant result in patients who received an intervention which used pursuit eye movements, and this was reported both as a short-term (immediate) effect and as a sustained effect up to 8 weeks after treatment. These effects were also reported in comparison with interventions using saccadic eye movements. One study also reported increased neural activity in a number of brain regions following pursuit-based intervention. Overall, there is good evidence in support of pursuit intervention used in the rehabilitation of stroke and spatial neglect over and above traditional interventions based on saccadic eye movements. Future research should aim to increase sample sizes, provide information on statistical power, record accurate eye movement responses and use randomised designs to reduce selection bias.

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Conflict of Interest

Dr. M Burke declares that she has no conflict of interest; Ms. D Hill declares that she has no conflict of interest; Ms. M Halstead declares that she has no conflict of interest; and Dr. R Coats declares that she has no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Deborah Hill, Rachel O Coats, Aimee Halstead & Melanie Rose Burke

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  1. Deborah Hill
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  2. Rachel O Coats
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  3. Aimee Halstead
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  4. Melanie Rose Burke
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Correspondence to Melanie Rose Burke.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 Study characteristics and extracted data for SRR papers (N = 9), arranged by methodological quality (high to low)
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Hill, D., Coats, R.O., Halstead, A. et al. A Systematic Research Review Assessing the Effectiveness of Pursuit Interventions in Spatial Neglect Following Stroke. Transl. Stroke Res. 6, 410–420 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-015-0420-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-015-0420-z

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