Cognitive rehabilitation of the hemineglect disorder in chronic patients with unilateral right brain damage

Thirteen patients with a stabilized hemineglect symptomatology due to right-hemisphere lesions were subjected to a rehabilitation training specifically aimed at reducing the scanning deficit. The training consisted of four procedures (visual-spatial scanning, reading and copying training, copying of line drawings on a dot matrix, and figure description) which lasted 40 sessions. By the end of therapy, the patients as a group showed significant improvements on several standard tests of hemineglect. The results on a Semi-structured Scale for the Functional Evaluation of Hemineglect pointed to the extension of exploratory improvements to situations similar to those of daily life. In contrast, patients improved very slightly on a variety of standard visual-spatial tests, indicating the specificity of training in reducing the scanning defect. Seven patients were examined at a follow-up several months after the end of therapy and appeared stable on both standard and functional tests of neglect.