Computer training could help stroke victims recover sight

16:52 1st April 2009

Computer training could help stroke victims to recover their sight more fully by developing other, undamaged parts of their brain.

Scientists have developed an exercise regime that includes patients engaging in an hour's computer use for a nine-month period, in a process which stimulates parts of the brain that deal with visual signals.

The programme has restored confidence to many stroke victims and some have even been able to resume driving, given the improvement to their eyesight.

Krystel Huxlin, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester Eye Institute in New York state, who led the research, told the Guardian: "It turns out you can recover vision after stroke. It's very hard to do and it takes a lot of exercising of your visual brain, but it is possible."

Up to 60 per cent of stroke victims lose some of their sight as a result of the condition. The computer research conducted by Ms Huxlin and her colleagues challenges the long-held belief that the sense cannot be recovered.

The Press and Journal recently reported a new training centre could be opened at North Highland College in Scotland.