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Recruiting NCT07237412

Neurofeedback-based Visual Restoration Therapy

No phase Interventional Visual Field Defect Homonymous Bilateral

For patients and families

In plain language

An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.

What is being studied
The protocol lists: neurofeedback.
Who it may be relevant to
Registry conditions: Visual Field Defect Homonymous Bilateral. Basic parameters: 50 years — 70 years · All.
What needs checking
Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
Where it takes place
Switzerland
Next step
Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →

Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →

Overview

Visual field defects are a common consequence of acquired brain injuries and affect people of all ages. These vision problems make everyday life more difficult-for example, when reading, driving, or moving around safely. However, there is currently no effective therapy to improve visual field defects. Previous training methods have focused on maximizing brain activity during a task. However, new findings show that the best performance is achieved when the brain is already in a state of high communication before the task. Our research shows that people can learn to increase communication between brain regions through neurofeedback. Studies have shown that neurofeedback can help people after a stroke: it improves the coordination of brain areas that are important for movement, thereby helping to increase mobility. Building on these findings, this study investigates whether EEG neurofeedback can support the visual centers in the brain to improve vision in patients with chronic visual field defects. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of neurofeedback in improving visual field defects. More specifically, the investigators are investigating the development of visual ability (expansion of the visual field, contrast sensitivity).

Interventions

  • Procedure neurofeedback
    The proposed neurofeedback approach relies on high-density electroencephalography (EEG) combined with advanced source localization algorithms. Data will be analyzed in real-time and simultaneously recorded for offline analysis. During each update, a data segment will be filtered between 1 and 20 Hz. The beamformer, computed at the beginning of the session, will be used to project the signal to the gray-matter voxels. The investigators will compute the alpha-band absolute imaginary coherence bet

Primary outcome measures

  • Visual field [Time frame: Change from enrollment to post-test at 3 weeks and follow up at 7 weeks (repeated-measures ANOVA)]
Secondary outcome measures (3)
  • Changes in alpha-band functional connecticity [Time frame: Change from entrollment to the end of treatment at 3 weeks.]
  • Questionnaire on daily-life impact of the visual impairment [Time frame: Change from enrollment to treatment end at 3 weeks]
  • Reading speed [Time frame: Change from enrollment to treatment end at 3 weeks and follow up at 7 weeks (repeated-measures ANOVA).]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

  • Chronic, stable HVFD (homologous lateral quadranopsia or hemianopsia)
  • 12 months or more after stroke
  • Age range 50-70
  • Ability to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

  • Inability to concentrate for long treatment sessions
  • Eye disease with impact on visual field or acuity
  • Presence of non-MRI safe metal in the body
  • New stroke during study period
  • Hemispatial neglect

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation
Randomized
Model
Crossover
Masking
Double blind
Primary purpose
Treatment

Study locations

Switzerland · 2 centers
  • Inselspital — Bern
  • Division of Neurorehabilitation, University Hospital of Geneva — Geneva

Publications

  • Sabel BA, Henrich-Noack P, Fedorov A, Gall C. Vision restoration after brain and retina damage: the "residual vision activation theory". Prog Brain Res. 2011;192:199-262. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53355-5.00013-0. PMID 21763527
  • Mottaz A, Corbet T, Doganci N, Magnin C, Nicolo P, Schnider A, Guggisberg AG. Modulating functional connectivity after stroke with neurofeedback: Effect on motor deficits in a controlled cross-over study. Neuroimage Clin. 2018 Jul 30;20:336-346. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.07.029. eCollection 2018. PMID 30112275
  • Allaman L, Mottaz A, Kleinschmidt A, Guggisberg AG. Spontaneous Network Coupling Enables Efficient Task Performance without Local Task-Induced Activations. J Neurosci. 2020 Dec 9;40(50):9663-9675. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1166-20.2020. Epub 2020 Nov 6. PMID 33158966
  • Allaman L, Mottaz A, Guggisberg AG. Disrupted resting-state EEG alpha-band interactions as a novel marker for the severity of visual field deficits after brain lesion. Clin Neurophysiol. 2021 Sep;132(9):2101-2109. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.05.029. Epub 2021 Jun 28. PMID 34284245

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07237412 · 2025-00765

Primary sources (government registries)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗