Abstract
Purpose :
Strokes are a leading cause of death in the United States. With racial minorities and women over the age of 55 at higher risk, strokes can cause lasting damage and reduce quality of life. Visual field defects, most commonly hemi-vision, can result. The Humphrey Visual Field (HVF) is the gold standard for hemi-vision detection and can be challenging, time-consuming, and uncomfortable for those with muscle weakness post-stroke. A wearable Virtual Reality (VR) Visual Field (VF) headset, such as the Palmscan 2000 VR VF, may be able to provide diagnostic information while patients are supine and transfer results via telemedicine access. No data regarding the use of this device in a supine position is available. This study aims to determine the comfort and ease of use of the VR VF headset in a seated versus supine position in control subjects.
Methods :
Healthy participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Group A performed a VR VF exam using the 24-2 setting of the Palmscan 2000 VR VF device in a seated (n=13) position and Group B preformed the same exam in a supine (n=12) position. Participants completed a 7-question survey using the 5-point Likert scale to evaluate comfort, device fit, and ease of use. Exams and surveys were compared between groups with an unpaired t-tests with Welch’s correction.
Results :
Comparison of surveys showed supine participants found the device less “easy to use” (p=0.0052) and caused “muscle strain or fatigue” (p=0.034) and “eye strain” (p=0.0268) when compared to the seated group. Supine patients were also less likely to have a “positive experience” (p= 0.0120) or “use the device again in the future” (p=0.0103). Greater test duration (p=0.0474) but fewer fixation losses (p=0.0123) were seen in seated participants in the right eye. Significantly fewer fixation losses (p=0.0163) in seated individuals were also seen in the left eye.
Conclusions :
Both seated and supine participants found the VR VF device was comfortable to wear and fit well. The device may be less comfortable in the supine postion due to the machine’s weight on the patient’s face. Further studies with a greater number of patients are needed to charactarize the reliability of the Palmscan 2000 VR VF in a seated versus supine position. This information would be useful as it could aid in early diagnosis of stroke hemi-defects when patients cannot preform HVF, improving outcomes and quality of life.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.