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What is the SIGHT trial?
The SIGHT trial is a £1.26 million study funded by the NIHR and MRC. Our goal is to test if Spatial Inattention Grasping Therapy (SIGHT) can help improve spatial inattention after stroke and find out which patients benefit most from this new therapy.
We will carry out a large national trial with 206 stroke survivors who have spatial inattention to see if SIGHT improves their inattention and their ability to carry out daily life tasks.
What is spatial inattention?
A stroke is caused by blood supply being cut off to part of the brain, killing brain cells. This can affect the brains' ability to interpret information. In some cases, this can make the stroke survivor lose attention to things on one side of their body. This disabling condition is called spatial neglect or inattention.
Spatial inattention affects 1 in 3 stroke survivors. People affected by spatial inattention often have poor recovery and long-term disability. They tell us: It's terrifying, I bump into people and there's not enough support.
Find out more about spatial inattention here.
Why is the trial needed?
Healthcare staff follow national stroke guidelines but currently there is no effective treatment for spatial inattention. Stroke survivors and NHS staff prioritised research into improving how the brain interprets information. They suggested focusing on conditions like spatial inattention.
SIGHT is a low-cost and portable therapy for spatial inattention. If the study shows that it reduces the effect of spatial inattention it could transform therapy worldwide.
What is SIGHT?
We worked with stroke survivors, carers, and healthcare staff to create a therapy for spatial inattention called SIGHT (Spatial Inattention Grasping Therapy). In our earlier small studies, patients found SIGHT to be acceptable. It showed promise in improving spatial inattention.
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What are we doing?
We will conduct a large multicentre study nationally to see if SIGHT can help spatial inattention after stroke. We will also find out which patients benefit most.
We will split 206 stroke survivors with spatial inattention into two groups. One group will receive SIGHT and usual care. The other group will only receive usual care. Usual care does not include SIGHT.
To compare the effect of the therapy we will assess patients' ability to attend to objects, and to carry out daily life tasks. We will assess patients before the therapy starts, after therapy, and 3 months after the end of therapy.
We will also study why some people benefit more from therapy than others. People who have inattention are better at grasping the middle of objects than judging where the middle is. This shows that different parts of the brain control grasping and perceiving things. People with damage to the parts of the brain used for grasping may benefit less.
To help identify who might benefit we will measure grasping, vision, cognition, and stroke severity.
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Funder Information
The SIGHT trial is a national randomised controlled efficacy trial funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme - a partnership between the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
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