NeuroVisual Clinic
Brain and Vision Research Laboratory
Biomedical Engineering Department, Boston University

The main purpose of the NeuroVisual clinic is to address perceptual-cognitive disorders and their challenges in clinics as well as basic science and therapy for Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) patients, mainly stroke patients. We are committed to linking clinical practice activity to basic science concerning ABI, through theory-driven procedures of assessment and training aimed at helping recovery of deficits. We use the noninvasive techniques of psychophysics and functional neuroimaging. When necessary, we custom-design psychophysical tests for measuring specific deficits or for retraining lost or impaired functions.

Program for Diagnosis and Retraining of Perceptual & Cognitive Deficits

Why this program?

After a stroke, traumatic brain injury or tumor, patients often experience a decrease in their cognitive and perceptual abilities. They may encounter difficulties in their daily living such as:

  • moving about the house
  • operating tools or using simple household objects
  • crossing the street in traffic or driving
  • only seeing a restricted portion of the visual world.

We offer a unique diagnostic and retraining program that focuses on figuring out such deficits, even when they are very subtle, and helps you understand your problems and adjust to the "new you" and the "new world" so that you can function. In some cases we have been able to help patients to get better or even fully recover. Enrollment and participation in the program is free to you!!!! You can choose to discontinue your participation at any time.

Who we are and what we do...

The NeuroVisual Clinic at the Boston University Brain and Vision Research Laboratory provides free assessment, diagnosis and retraining of visual-spatial cognitive problems to a limited number of neurological patients under a project funded by the National Institutes of Health. We are physicians and scientists studying visual-cognitive functions and seeking practical and scientifically valid solutions for the clinical recovery of deficits.

We can do this because, in the last few years researchers have demonstrated that, at all ages, there is a great deal of plasticity in brain functions and this plasticity mediates recovery.

The service we provide

The aim of service we provide is to: (1) identify your areas of perceptual-cognitive impairment and cognitive strength, (2) monitor improvement or deterioration, (3) design remediation programs unique to each patient, (4) evaluate the outcomes of treatments, (5) provide feedback and discuss possible vocational and educational capacity, (6) get noninvasively pictures of your brain to accurately locate your brain lesion caused by the stroke and the deficits you experience and monitor your improvement.

During the recovery process, visual-spatial cognitive deficits not only change in severity but different impairments may appear as others disappear. This means that your functional status cannot be captured by any single assessment. We will make the time to see you several times throughout the recovery period to capture the dynamic nature of improvement and to give you continuous feedback.

Questionnaires

Preliminary evaluation of every patient that we work with involves the administration of the following scales. This allows us to compare and broadly categorize patients' deficits.

How to contact us

Dr. Vaina oversees all phases of this program.

All assessment and retraining will be conducted at the NeuroVisual Clinic, Boston University, 44 Cummington St., 3rd Floor - Suite 304, under the direct supervision of Dr. Lucia-Maria Vaina, the Director of the Clinic. Brain imaging is performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital NMR Center with which Dr. Vaina is associated.

Other Relevant Resources:


NeuroVisual Clinic > Brain and Vision Research Laboratory > Biomedical Engineering Department > Boston University