Development of novel rehabilitation tools for patients with spatial neglect

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K24300
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0909:Sports sciences, physical education, health sciences, and related fields
• Research Institution: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Principal Investigator: Yusaku Takamura 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), 研究所 運動機能系障害研究部, 研究員 (20846175)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 半側空間無視

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Visuospatial neglect (VSN) is a neurological syndrome of higher brain functions in which an individual fails to detect stimuli on a space that is contralateral to a hemispheric lesion. This study performed a comprehensive multivariate analysis based on the principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis in patients with right hemisphere stroke and then performed a determination of different elements of VSN. I detected distinct aspects of VSN as follows: 1)low arousal and attention state, 2)Exogenous neglect, 3)spatial working memory (SWM) deficit. These results reveal a pathological structure of VSN as multiple components of an attention network deficit, and they contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying VSN. This may lead to the development of rehabilitation method based on the individual pathological characteristics of visuospatial neglect.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション・健康科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

半側空間無視は脳卒中に合併する高次脳機能障害の一つであり、リハビリテーションによる日常生活動作能力の獲得や生活範囲の拡大に負の影響を与える。これは、社会参加の困難さん繋がりひいては活動量低下に伴う健康状態悪化にもつながる。一方、半側空間無視に対する有効なリハビリテーション手法はすくなく、効果の個人差が大きい。本研究では、病態基盤および病態に基づいた手法を検討することで個人差の要因を明確化し、個人に応じたリハビリテーション手法の開発に繋がると考えられる。