Contact: Jeanne Antol Krull, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Phone: 305-243-4853
Email: jkrull@med.miami.edu
Contact: Susan Kuhn, NovaVision, Inc.
Phone: 561.558.2038
Email: skuhn@novavision.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Neuroimaging Data Show Activity in Brain’s Visual Cortex from Vision Restoration Therapy (Vrt)
University of Miami Functional MRI Study Presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting Supports Hypothesis of Recovery through Neuro-Stimulation Researchers from the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine (www.med.miami.edu) presented findings at the 61st annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology that showed functional MRI (fMRI) results from five patients with a visual field defect resulting from stroke or traumatic brain injury. Four of the patients performed six months of daily vision restoration therapy (VRT) created by NovaVision, Inc., and one patient acted as a control subject. All of the patients who underwent the therapy had an increase in activity in their visual cortex.
“While several studies have shown that visual expansion occurs with VRT, the mechanism of recovery has not been entirely understood, “said Jose Romano, M.D., associate professor of neurology and director of the Cerebrovascular Division at the Miller School of Medicine. “The fMRI results support the notion that cortical reorganization is occurring in visual processing areas.”
A previous fMRI study was conducted with six patients at the Columbia University Medical Center and published in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair in 2007. The results suggested cortical reorganization in areas relevant to visual attention, identified one month after beginning VRT. These two studies and others utilizing microperimetry and eye-tracking devices were conducted to assess whether eye movements are responsible for patient outcomes. All have suggested that the brain is responding to the therapy and that eye movements are not critically responsible for vision gained.
NovaVision VRT® is the first and only FDA-cleared medical device or rehabilitative therapy clinically proven to expand the visual field for stroke and brain injury survivors who have been left partially blind from their injury. VRT is an at-home, customized therapy, which presents neuro-stimulation in the border along the individual’s blind field.
|