Study Introduction Home Page
DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAVE PARKINSON’S DISEASE OR DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES?
The University of Washington is conducting a study on visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies to investigate whether virtual reality devices can be used to help assess the tendency of people with these disorders to have visual hallucinations.
We hope to develop a way to quantify these experiences more objectively which in turn will help guide treatment decisions and possibly lead to new ways of treating visual hallucinations non-pharmacologically.
Who can participate?
We are primarily seeking participants with Parkinson’s Disease or Dementia with Lewy Bodies who have experienced visual hallucinations within the last year (group 1), however we will also be enrolling individuals with these disorders who have not had visual hallucinations (group 2) and healthy individuals (group 3). All participants must be over the age of 18.
Are there any things that would exclude me from being able to participate?
- Experience panic or severe distress from visual hallucinations.
- Prior diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder with psychosis, or other primary psychiatric disorder with history of hallucinosis
- Current or prior substance use disorder.
- History of suicidality.
- Unable to provide informed consent
- Severe dementia limiting the ability to understand directions
- Not proficient in spoken or written English
- Upper extremity limb loss or other structural limitation that would prevent the use of bilateral handheld controllers.
- Skull deformities, scalp infections/wounds, or other skull/scalp abnormalities that would interfere with placement on a VR headset
- Functionally blindness in one or both eyes or presence of significant limitations in eye movement or field of view
- Significant uncorrected hearing loss
- Pregnancy
What is involved?
Interested individuals will be requested to send an email to VirtualReality4VH@uw.edu with contact information (phone number, email) and information about which participant group they belong to. Individuals will be contacted by the study team, and based on enrollment may be scheduled for a screening phone call or video call. If an individual is a likely candidate based on this call, there will be a formal consent process at that time.
The study itself will consist of a single visit to the research site. At this visit, there will be several clinical assessments (interviews, surveys, exams) and a series of virtual reality experiences lasting up to 1 hour. During the virtual reality experience, participants will experience various environments and see various objects. Participants will be requested to provide detailed information about what they are seeing and recordings of speech and movement will be made. The study visit should take less than 3 hours.
What is a virtual reality device?
A device that produces an immersive simulated environment.
These devices usually consist of a headset and sometimes controllers.
What are visual hallucinations?
These are visual experiences that are perceived without objective external visual stimuli.
Frequently, individuals who experience these will see patterns, shadows, animals, or people that others do not see.
Study Team
Siegfried Hirczy, MD
Yi-Han “Anny” Lin, MD
Michael Schrift, DO
Contact information: VirtualReality4VH@uw.edu
Disclaimer: Please note only private email addresses should be used when communicating with study researchers and email is not secure.