P-2-04-01
CUBE DRAWING IN PATIENTS WITH UNILATERAL SPATIAL NEGLECT
Noriyuki Shinsha, Atsushi Sakai, Shigenobu Ishigami (National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan)
Purpose: Copying a cube is the task which usually used to evaluate unilateral spatial neglect (USN) or disorders in construction. We developed the computerized recording system for drawing and analyzed the cube drawing process.
Method: 10 stroke patients with USN and 10 healthy adults participated in this study as Subjects. Recording system was consisted of pen digitizer (WACOM, UD1212II) and personal computer system (Apple, Power Macintosh 7500/100). Subjects were asked to add lines to 3 types of cue figures and complete the cube as quickly as possible with stylus pen. Each cue figure consisted of three lines which corresponds left side, center part, or right side of the cube. Collapsed time and coordinates of the tip of stylus pen were recorded until the subject finished to draw. We compared the process of drawing of healthy adults with that of patients with USN especially in the procedure, deviation and time.
Results: USN patients tended to deviate more than healthy adults especially in left-sided cue and waste more time. In healthy adults, there are two drawing patterns to complete a cube. On the other hand, in patients with USN, there is no consistent drawing pattern. Strains of shape, deviations of tips, or time to draw decreased in line with the improvement of ADL scores, such as FIM or BI.
P-2-04-02
EFFECTS OF ELECTRICAL STIMULATION OF THE NECK MUSCLE IN PATIENTS WITH LEFT NEGLECT.
Kazu Amimoto, Satoshi Sugimoto, Haruhito Aoki.
(St. Marianna University School of Medicine Hospital, Kawasaki, Japan)
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of electrical stimulation of the posterior neck muscle on the time course change in patients with left neglect.
Subjects: Six stroke patients (mean age, 71.6 years) were enrolled in this study. The mean period from onset to the first assessment was 52 days, and to the second 86 days.
Methods: Patients were assessed by a figure cancellation task (Weintraub test) under the following 4 conditions: no electrical stimulation, to the right side, to the left side, and bilateral stimulation. The order of stimulation was randomized.
Results: In the first assessment, the left-sided stimulation improved cancellation performance significantly as compared with the other conditions. There were, however, no significant differences between each conditions at the second time.
Conclusion: The results suggest that the electrical stimulation of the neck muscle would modify a directional attention in the early phase of left neglected patients.
