TRANSCUTANEOUS ELECTRICAL-STIMULATION OF THE NECK MUSCLES AND HEMINEGLECT REHABILITATION

In four patients with left visuo-spatial hemineglect and right brain- damage, the therapeutic effects of Transcutaneous Electrical Nervous S timulation (TENS) of the left neck muscles, associated with a non-spec ific treatment, and of a specific rehabilitation paradigm were investi gated. The two treatments were given for an 8-week period each. TENS h ad positive effects on hemineglect in two out of four patients, wherea s the specific treatment produced a major improvement of the disorder in all four cases. The suggestion is made that an effective treatment of neglect requires a paradigm comprising a range of visuo-spatial exp loratory tasks of increasing complexity and a systematic feedback as t o the success of the patients' performance. This is the case of the sp ecific treatment. By contrast a procedure confined to a sensory stimul ation, which produces a short-term improvement in the range of minutes , does not have comparable long-term effects. (C) 1996 Elsevier Scienc e Ireland Ltd.