Rehabilitation Of Visual Disorders After Brain Injury

Despite a long research tradition in visual neuroscience, the rehabilitation of cerebral visual deficits has, until recently, been neglected. This book is the first to report systematic observations on spontaneous recovery of cerebral visual deficits after acquired brain injury, and the outcome of treating these deficits. The whole range of human visual functions and capacities is covered: visual field, visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, visual adaptation, colour vision, visual space perception, and visual cognition. Additionally, there is a special section devoted to patients with central scotoma. All treatment procedures described are empirically founded.

This thoroughly updated and extended edition covers the various cerebral visual disorders acquired after brain injury, as well as the rehabilitation techniques used to treat them. These are described within a brain plasticity framework, using data from single and group case studies along with follow up observation data. This original, tailor-made approach also includes the recording of eye movements for assessing scanning performance in scene perception and reading. The book gives a brief synopsis of the historical background on the subject, alongside an outline of intervention designs and methodological difficulties in the field, and goes on to discuss the mechanisms and processes that provide the foundations for recovery of function and successful adaptation in visually impaired patients. The author concludes by analyzing the importance of the procedures and outcomes of treatments to the reduction of patients’ visual handicaps. The new edition also contains an appendix with recommendations on the case histories, diagnostics and treatments. It is ideal reading for students in clinical neuropsychology, as well as professionals in the fields of neurology, visual neuroscience and rehabilitation experts.

Neurovision Rehabilitation Guide is a valuable resource for the health care professional working with patients with visual dysfunction as a consequence of traumatic brain injury and neurological disorders. It covers the concepts of visual dysfunction as well as assessment and step-by-step treatment plans. The guide covers the neurology of visual processing before and after a brain injury. It explains the concepts behind neurovision rehabilitation and how to go about examining and treating the patient’s visual deficits. It also covers the evaluation of visual perceptual deficits and treatment of the traumatic brain injury patient. The guide contains more than 80 vision therapy procedures, with step-by-step instructions as well as sequencing guides for each category of therapy (oculomotor, accommodation, binocular, perceptual).

Providing the information required to understand, advocate for, and supply post-acute vision rehabilitative care following brain injury, Vision Rehabilitation: Multidisciplinary Care of the Patient Following Brain Injury bridges the gap between theory and practice. It presents clinical information and scientific literature supporting the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies applied in a comprehensive overview of current diagnostic and treatment strategies in adult post-brain injury vision rehabilitation. Includes a foreword by Dr. Sue Barry Because post-brain injury rehabilitation works best in a team setting where the entire person can be treated, this text has been carefully designed as a multidisciplinary resource with an emphasis on models for working with the rehabilitation team. The book covers a myriad of topics such as post-brain injury vision rehabilitation; eye movements; binocular dysfunction; visual field loss; visual-spatial neglect; shifts in visual egocenter affecting balance and coordination; visual-vestibular interactions; central vs. peripheral visual attention; as well as deficits in object perception, visual memory, and visual cognition. The book details models that vision specialists working with the rehabilitation team can use to achieve the best success for the patient in rehabilitation; vision rehabilitation concepts and the science from which they have been developed; examples of therapeutic exercises; practice management information for the post-brain injury vision rehabilitation practice; and information on the legal process in which one frequently becomes involved in this type of work. Edited by eminent clinicians, the book highlights the work of contributors who are well-respected academicians and researchers, bringing together the clinical information that enables everyone involved in a brain injury case to grasp the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be invited to contribute a foreword to this book, which deserves - and needs - to be read by virtually everyone who is concerned with the treatment and subse quent welfare of the victims of severe injuries of the brain. Some friends, relatives and workmates might be helped by reading some parts of it, but, if the book has the effect it deserves to have on therapists, nurses, doctors, and others working in both hospitals and the community, these laymen will be suitably informed and assisted by one or more members of the necessarily large therapeutic team. The improvements in methods of resuscitation that have taken place during the last 40 years or so have abolished the previously fatalistic readiness to accept that a week or two in coma after a head injury was virtually a sentence to death from pneumonia. After it had become possible to save lives it gradually became clear that survival of the patient was not necessarily followed by recovery of the brain and that the price of success, in saving lives, was a popula tion of cerebral cripples that was increasing at the rate of 1000 or more a year throughout the country. Although this figure has remained about the same for more than 20 years, there has been a great improvement in the amount of interest, the standard of care and the quality of results that are being achieved.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a significant source of death and permanent disability, contributing to nearly one-third of all injury related deaths in the United States and exacting a profound personal and economic toll. Despite the increased resources that have recently been brought to bear to improve our understanding of TBI, the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches has been disappointingly slow. Translational Research in Traumatic Brain Injury attempts to integrate expertise from across specialties to address knowledge gaps in the field of TBI. Its chapters cover a wide scope of TBI research in five broad areas: Epidemiology Pathophysiology Diagnosis Current treatment strategies and sequelae Future therapies Specific topics discussed include the societal impact of TBI in both the civilian and military populations, neurobiology and molecular mechanisms of axonal and neuronal injury, biomarkers of traumatic brain injury and their relationship to pathology, neuroplasticity after TBI, neuroprotective and neurorestorative therapy, advanced neuroimaging of mild TBI, neurocognitive and psychiatric symptoms following mild TBI, sports-related TBI, epilepsy and PTSD following TBI, and more. The book integrates the perspectives of experts across disciplines to assist in the translation of new ideas to clinical practice and ultimately to improve the care of the brain injured patient.

The ability to see deeply affects how human beings perceive and interpret the world around them. For most people, eyesight is part of everyday communication, social activities, educational and professional pursuits, the care of others, and the maintenance of personal health, independence, and mobility. Functioning eyes and vision system can reduce an adult's risk of chronic health conditions, death, falls and injuries, social isolation, depression, and other psychological problems. In children, properly maintained eye and vision health contributes to a child's social development, academic achievement, and better health across the lifespan. The public generally recognizes its reliance on sight and fears its loss, but emphasis on eye and vision health, in general, has not been integrated into daily life to the same extent as other health promotion activities, such as teeth brushing; hand washing; physical and mental exercise; and various injury prevention behaviors. A larger population health approach is needed to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coordinated efforts that can sustain the scope of behavior change. The shaping of socioeconomic environments can eventually lead to new social norms that promote eye and vision health. Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. Building on the momentum of previous public health efforts, this report also introduces a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.