Effects of Optokinetic Stimulation Without a Reading Task in Patients With Hemianopic Alexia

NCT07830745 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 2026-A00195-4626.02108.000598
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate whether optokinetic stimulation delivered without a reading task can improve reading performance in adults with post-stroke hemianopic alexia. The main question it aims to answer is: does optokinetic stimulation without a reading task improve reading speed more than optokinetic stimulation with a reading task? Optokinetic stimlation with a reading task is considered the standard rehabilitation. These two conditions will be administered according to a randomized crossover design to determine wether the presence or absence of a reading task influences reading outcomes. Participants will

• receive 4 weeks of optokinetic stimulation without a reading task and 4 weeks of optokinétic stimulation with a reading task, with the order of these two interventions determined by randomization,
• undergo assesments of reading performance, oculomotor behavior, visual field and rehabilitation tolerability before and after each intervention period,
• undergo a follow-up assesment 1 month after completion of the interventions.

Conditions

Stroke; Hemianopia Homonymous

Keywords

Homonymous hemianopia; Reading rehabilitation; Hemianopic alexia; Optokinetic; Ocular mobility

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in reading speed on paper

  Change in the number of correctly read words per minute, assessed using the International Reading Speed Texts (IReST). For each participant, the change in reading speed will be calculated separately for the optokinetic rehabilitation condition with a reading task and for the optokinetic rehabilitation condition without a reading task. The within-participant changes obtained after each 4-week period will be pooled across the two randomized sequences and compared between conditions. A higher reading speed indicates better reading performance.

  Baseline and end of each 4-week rehabilitation period: Week 0, Week 4, and Week 8

Secondary Outcomes (11)

• Change in reading accuracy on paper

  Baseline and end of each 4-week rehabilitation period: Week 0, Week 4, and Week 8

• Change in reading speed on screen

  Baseline and end of each 4-week rehabilitation period: Week 0, Week 4, and Week 8

• Change in reading accuracy on screen

  Baseline and end of each 4-week rehabilitation period: Week 0, Week 4, and Week 8

• Change in subjective reading abilities

  Baseline and end of each 4-week rehabilitation period: Week 0, Week 4, and Week 8

• Change in ocular fixations during reading

  Baseline and end of each 4-week rehabilitation period: Week 0, Week 4, and Week 8

Study Arms (2)

Group A

OTHER

Patients receive 15 sessions of optokinetic rehabilitation with a reading task, followed by 15 sessions of optokinetic rehabilitation without an associated reading task. The optokinetic rehabilitation sessions with reading are considered the standard of care, while optokinetic rehabilitation without an associated reading task is the experimental condition. Each patient undergoes both conditions sequentially and serves as their own control.

Other: Optokinetic stimulation without reading task; Other: Optokinetic stimulation with reading task

Group B

OTHER

Patients receive 15 sessions of optokinetic rehabilitation without an associated reading task, followed by 15 sessions of optokinetic rehabilitation with a reading task. The optokinetic rehabilitation sessions with reading are considered the standard of care, while optokinetic rehabilitation without an associated reading task is the experimental condition. Each patient undergoes both conditions sequentially and serves as their own control.

Other: Optokinetic stimulation without reading task; Other: Optokinetic stimulation with reading task

Interventions

Optokinetic stimulation without reading task OTHER

Participants are exposed to a horizontally moving optokinetic visual stimulus on a computer screen for 40 minutes per session. The task consists of viewing random sequences of letters scrolling from right to left. The sessions are spread out over 4 weeks, with 3 or 4 sessions per week, to achieve 10 hours (15 sessions) of optokinetic rehabilitation.

Group A; Group B

Optokinetic stimulation with reading task OTHER

Participants are exposed to a horizontally moving optokinetic visual stimulus on a computer screen for 40 minutes per session. The task consists of reading aloud sentences scrolling from right to left. The sessions are spread out over 4 weeks, with 3 or 4 sessions per week, to achieve 10 hours (15 sessions) of optokinetic rehabilitation. The scrolling speed ranges from 85 to 275 words per minute, depending on the participant's reading accuracy.

Group A; Group B

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Time since lesion \> 1 month
• Diagnosis of homonymous hemianopia post-stroke without macular sparing
• Reading complaint and/or reading impairment
• Proficiency in reading French
• Agreed to give informed consent
• Afiliated with national health insurance

You may not qualify if:

• History of neurological or psychiatric disorders
• Visual impairment of peripheral origin (i.e., related to damage to the structures of the eye or the optic nerve)
• Uncorrected visual acuity deficit
• Reading disorder prior to the stroke (dyslexia)
• Instability of reading impairment
• Instability of homonymous hemianopia
• Major cognitive that would limit the ability of the patient to participate in the study (unilateral spatial neglect, simultanagnosia, comprehension disorder, oral expression disorder)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Clinique Les Trois Soleils: lead
• Laboratoire Mémoire Cerveau et Cognition, Boulogne-Billancourt, France: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Clinique Les Trois Soleils

Boissise-le-Roi, Île-de-France Region, 77310, France

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Goodwin D. Homonymous hemianopia: challenges and solutions. Clin Ophthalmol. 2014 Sep 22;8:1919-27. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S59452. eCollection 2014.

  PMID: 25284978 BACKGROUND

• Schuett S, Heywood CA, Kentridge RW, Zihl J. Rehabilitation of hemianopic dyslexia: are words necessary for re-learning oculomotor control? Brain. 2008 Dec;131(Pt 12):3156-68. doi: 10.1093/brain/awn285. Epub 2008 Nov 3.

  PMID: 18984602 BACKGROUND

• Zihl J. Eye movement patterns in hemianopic dyslexia. Brain. 1995 Aug;118 ( Pt 4):891-912. doi: 10.1093/brain/118.4.891.

  PMID: 7655887 BACKGROUND

• Spitzyna GA, Wise RJ, McDonald SA, Plant GT, Kidd D, Crewes H, Leff AP. Optokinetic therapy improves text reading in patients with hemianopic alexia: a controlled trial. Neurology. 2007 May 29;68(22):1922-30. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000264002.30134.2a.

  PMID: 17536049 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Hemianopsia; Stroke

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Vision Disorders; Sensation Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Blindness; Eye Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases

Study Officials

• Christophe Duret

  Clinique Les Trois Soleils, Boissise-le-Roi, France

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Anne-Gaëlle Grosmaire

CONTACT

+33164715200; ag.grosmaire@les-trois-soleils.fr

Clotilde Guillerot

CONTACT

c.guillerot@les-trois-soleils.fr

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 15, 2026
• First Posted: September 21, 2026
• Study Start: October 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027
• Last Updated: September 21, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

FR (1)