Four abstracts on spatial neglect to be presented at upcoming AAN meeting

Kessler FoundationApr 12 2012

Anna M. Barrett, MD will represent Kessler Foundation's Stroke Rehabilitation Research Laboratory at the upcoming American Academy of Neurology Conference at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA, April 21 - April 28. Four abstracts will be presented representing the Laboratory's collaborative investigation of the neurocognitive disorder of spatial neglect after right-brain stroke. Spatial neglect is a hidden disability of functional vision that hinders rehabilitation and recovery, affecting up to half of stroke survivors in the days and weeks after stroke.

Kessler Foundation's Stroke Rehabilitation Research Laboratory is a leader in establishing new clinical practice guidelines to reliably identify and treat this disabling disorder, through the Kessler Foundation Neglect Assessment Process (KF-NAP), which will be presented at the meeting. A.M. Barrett, MD, Director of Stroke Rehabilitation and Peii Chen, PhD, research scientist at Kessler Foundation will be presenting on this process with Kessler Foundation's collaborators, including Kimberly Hreha, OTR, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, Anne Foundas, MD, LSU Health Sciences Center, Louisiana State University, Kelly Goedert, PhD, Seton Hall University, Raymond Boston, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Priyanka Shah and Amit Chaudhari, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, and Paola Fortis, PhD, Center for Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, University of Trento, Italy. Dr. Barrett, a Professor at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and Chief of Neurorehabilitation Program Innovation at Kessler Institute, is also the current president of the American Society for Neurorehabilitation (ASNR).

The Kessler Foundation Stroke Research Laboratory applies advances in spatial neglect research to clinical care, and will present two abstracts on the exciting prism treatment approach to this disorder. "Our goal is to develop guidelines for assigning prism treatment, based on behavior or brain imaging during the first weeks after stroke," commented Dr. Chen. The Stroke Laboratory raises professional awareness of this under-recognized stroke complication through the multidisciplinary Network for Spatial Neglect. The Network for Spatial Neglect was launched at the 2011 ASNR conference by Drs. Barrett and Chen, Kimberly Hreha, and Robin Hedeman of Kessler Institute.

Topics for the upcoming AAN meeting are:

• Chen P, Hreha K, Fortis P, Goedert KM, Barrett AM. Using the Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) in rehabilitation of spatial neglect: Kessler Foundation Neglect Assessment Process (KF-NAP).
• Barrett AM, Goedert KM, Chen P, Boston R. Dissociated response to prism adaptation - "aiming" spatial-motor bias, not "where" perceptual-attentional bias, is key.
• Chaudhari A, Chen P, Goedert KM, Barrett AM. Retrospective analysis suggests BIT may sensitively diagnose "Where" perceptual-attentional neglect, in stroke survivors having less disability.
• Shah P, Chen P, Goedert KM, Foundas AL, Barrett AM. Integrity of medial visuomotor pathway predicts better recovery in neglect patients receiving prism adaptation treatment.