Rehabilitation of the blind stroke patient

Over a two-year period 220 consecutive stroke admissions to a rehabilitation medicine inpatient service were reviewed. There were nine admissions (4.1%) involving seven separate patients who were also legally blind. The characteristics, outcomes, and special problems of these patients are reviewed. Despite their advanced age and double disability almost all became ambulatory and a majority of them were able to be discharged to their homes. Visual loss was often the primary limiting factor in functional outcome. A striking finding was the lack of perceptual problems in those right brain damaged patients with the greatest degree of visual impairment.