Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on basic activities of daily living (B-ADL) of patients with unilateral spatial neglect (USN) after stroke.Methods 72 patients with USN after stroke were divided into the experimental group (group A1, 36 cases), who received the training for USN and HBO, and observation group (group A2, 36 cases), who received the training for USN alone. Other 90 stroke inpatients without USN at the same time were as control (group B). All of them received routine rehabilitation, and were assessed with Modified Barthel Index (MBI) before and after treatment. Results Before treatment, the scores of MBI in the patients with USN (groups A1 and A2) were significantly lower than those in the control group (B) (P<0.05). The scores of MBI in all groups improved 6 weeks after treatments (P<0.001). While, the scores in the group A2 were lower than that of the group A1, but both were not significantly different from control (P>0.05). Conclusion USN would significantly impair the ADL of stroke patients, and the rehabilitation for USN may improve their ADL. HBO may improve the outcome.

Key words: stroke, unilateral spatial neglect (USN), rehabilitation, hyperbaric oxygen (HBO), activities of daily living (ADL)