« Visual problems due to brain injury are often overlooked during initial treatment, lengthening rehabilitation period. Our cost-effective system uses quantitative interpretation from images of the eye to identify gaze-related indices as biomarkers of stroke. A patient is asked to look towards a slowly moving visual stimulus on the computer screen, and an integrated web-camera looks in the patient’s eyes to capture gaze-related indices as biomarkers of stroke condition, » said IIT-Gn assistant professor Uttama Lahiri, who worked with Dr Anirban Dutta (from INRIA, France) and Dr Abhijit Das (Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata).

IIT-Gandhinagar develops an eye for stroke

From left: Dr. Hayashibe, Dr. Lahiri, Dr. Das, Dr. González

Sept. 29, 2015 – 9 to 10 AM – Room 2/124 – talk by Dr. Uttama Lahiri (INRIA-DST collaborator)

Title: Gaze-based Prognostic Tool and Virtual Reality based Rehabilitation Platform for Patients

with Neurological Disorders

Name: Dr. Uttama Lahiri

Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, India

Gaze-based Prognostic Tool for Patients with Neurological Disorders

Eye movements are a continuous and ubiquitous part of sensory perception. To properly generate highly

accurate and co-ordinate ocular movements, a vast network of brain areas are engaged, from low-level

visual processing to motor control of gaze orientation. This renders oculomotor system vulnerable to

various neurological disorders with unique clinical patterns. Therefore, oculomotor examination can serve

as an early and sensitive indicator for various neurological conditions. A simple-to-use, clinically valid

system for objectively assessing the oculomotor function can thus bring a paradigm shift in diagnosis and

treatment of brain disorders. In our research we have designed a gaze assessment tool, called SmartEye,

which is based on eye fixation, smooth pursuit, and blinking in response to both static and dynamic visual

stimuli.

Physiology-sensitive Virtual Reality based Stroke Rehabilitation platform

Stroke is a leading cause of adult death and disability, often followed by muscle weakness and loss of

control in limbs. Consequently, individuals with hemiplegia are often unable to perform simple daily

living tasks which require coordination skills. In the present study we have developed proof-of-concept

Virtual Reality (VR) based tasks where the participant is asked to navigate objects in the VR environment

by interacting with the environment with a haptic device. Our VR-based environment offers tasks of

varying challenges in an individualized manner that is adaptive to one’s task performance.

Simultaneously, we acquire the participant’s physiological measures as biomarkers of one’s stress level.

Such systems have also been developed by our research team to train participants in balance tasks since, a

vast majority of stroke patients have problems of fall, thereby adversely affecting their independent

navigation capability.

Biography

Uttama Lahiri has received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, USA. Currently, she is an Assistant

Professor at IIT Gandhinagar, India. Her research interests include robot-assisted surgical technique,

Virtual Reality based affective computing, Eye Tracking and Physiology based modeling techniques, and

Adaptive Intelligent techniques in cognitive research.

Congratulations to Mr. Utkarsh Jindal, NeuroPhys4NeuroRehab project intern, who is the Asia-Pacific Finalist at the 2015 EMBC Student Paper Competition

2015 EMBC Student Paper Competition Finalists

Jan. 17, 2015: Presentation by Dr. Mitsuhiro Hayashibe at Jadavpur University Kolkata

Jan. 18, 2015: Dr. Das presents a stroke case at the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata

Jan. 18, 2015: Stroke survivor using DEMAR’s Vivaltis FES system at the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata

Jan. 18, 2015: Dinner with Dr. Das and Mr. Sengupta in Kolkata

Jan. 22, 2015: Workshop on ‘Modern Techniques in Rehabilitation’

DEMAR presentation by Dr. Mitsuhiro Hayashibe, co-PI of the INRIA-DST project

Presentation and rounding up of the discussions by Dr. Uttama Lahiri, Indian PI of the INRIA-DST project

KOLKATA: A simple device attached to the forehead can now help to detect cerebral strokes and assess the extent of the damage it has caused to the brain. It will also help neurologists identify the specific regions in the brain that have been affected, letting them stimulate the areas and revive them effectively.

Franco-Indian INRIA-DST funding: The device is the result of a clinical study carried out by the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata (INK), India in collaboration with engineering research institutions – INRIA, France and IIIT-Hyderabad, India.