A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that some patients formerly diagnosed as ‘vegetative,’ might still retain the ability to hear and respond to questions, an indication that consciousness might remain intact even in otherwise comatose or vegetative patients. The Oxford English Dictionarydefines vegetative as, “alive but comatose and without apparent brain activity or responsiveness.” The new study has made doctors and scientists wary of diagnosing patients as vegetative.
In the study, conducted by British and Belgian scientists, a 29-year-old Belgian man who had been diagnosed as vegetative for the past five years was able to answer a yes/no question using a conscious change in his brainwaves, which were monitored with a functional MRI. ATimes Online article reported that the man “had previously failed to show any signs of consciousness after suffering a severe brain injury in a road accident.” However, only one of the 54 patients assessed in the study was able to accurately answer a question.
Three other traumatic brain injury patients diagnosed as vegetative showed signs of an aware consciousness, but they were not able to conclusively answer questions. Functional MRI (fMRI) scans were conducted on a total of 54 patients, with four of them showing some signs of consciousness, namely brain activity that corresponded with motor activity when asked to imagine playing tennis and navigational activity when asked to imagine moving through a house.
Next, the scientists developed a method of using the fMRI data as a form of communication. Brain scans were conducted on healthy individuals who were asked to imagine playing tennis to answer “yes,” and to imagine moving around in their homes to answer “no.” The healthy-brained individuals scored 100 percent on the tests, establishing a method of evaluating the responsiveness of the consciousness of vegetative patients, the Times Online article reported.
While the research holds immense promise for so-called vegetative traumatic brain injury patients, much more progress must be made before techniques are advanced enough to allow for more complex communication.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Laureys, told the Times Online, “So far these scans have proven to be the only viable method for this patient to communicate in any way since his accident. It’s early days, but in the future we hope to develop this technique to allow some patients to express their feelings and thoughts, control their environment and increase their quality of life.” The scientists said they plan to repeat the experiment and to refine their techniques as they gather more data.
References:
Healy, Melissa. (February 4, 2010) “Brains of vegetative patients show life.” Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the Los Angeles Times Web site:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-vegetative4-2010fe…
Henderson, Mark. (February 4, 2010) “Patient ‘locked in’ by brain injury answers question using thoughts alone.” Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the Times Online Web site:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/medicine/article7014246.ece
Monti, Martin M, Ph.D. et al. (February 3, 2010) “Willful Modulation of Brain Activity in Disorders of Consciousness.” Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the New England Journal of Medicine Web site: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0905370
Stein, Rob. (February 3, 2010) “Brain activity detected in ‘vegetative’ patients.” Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the Seattle Times Web site:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010975417_brain04.html
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that some patients formerly diagnosed as ‘˜vegetative,’ might still retain the ability to hear and respond to questions, an indication that consciousness might remain intact even in otherwise comatose or vegetative patients. The Oxford English Dictionarydefines vegetative as, ‘alive but comatose and without apparent brain activity or responsiveness.’ The new study has made doctors and scientists wary of diagnosing patients as vegetative.
In the study, conducted by British and Belgian scientists, a 29-year-old Belgian man who had been diagnosed as vegetative for the past five years was able to answer a yes/no question using a conscious change in his brainwaves, which were monitored with a functional MRI. ATimes Online article reported that the man ‘had previously failed to show any signs of consciousness after suffering a severe brain injury in a road accident.’ However, only one of the 54 patients assessed in the study was able to accurately answer a question.
Three other traumatic brain injury patients diagnosed as vegetative showed signs of an aware consciousness, but they were not able to conclusively answer questions. Functional MRI (fMRI) scans were conducted on a total of 54 patients, with four of them showing some signs of consciousness, namely brain activity that corresponded with motor activity when asked to imagine playing tennis and navigational activity when asked to imagine moving through a house.
Next, the scientists developed a method of using the fMRI data as a form of communication. Brain scans were conducted on healthy individuals who were asked to imagine playing tennis to answer ‘yes,’ and to imagine moving around in their homes to answer ‘no.’ The healthy-brained individuals scored 100 percent on the tests, establishing a method of evaluating the responsiveness of the consciousness of vegetative patients, the Times Online article reported.
While the research holds immense promise for so-called vegetative traumatic brain injury patients, much more progress must be made before techniques are advanced enough to allow for more complex communication.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Laureys, told the Times Online, ‘So far these scans have proven to be the only viable method for this patient to communicate in any way since his accident. It’s early days, but in the future we hope to develop this technique to allow some patients to express their feelings and thoughts, control their environment and increase their quality of life.’ The scientists said they plan to repeat the experiment and to refine their techniques as they gather more data.
References:
Healy, Melissa. (February 4, 2010) ‘Brains of vegetative patients show life.’ Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the Los Angeles Times Web site:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-vegetative4-2010fe…
Henderson, Mark. (February 4, 2010) ‘Patient ‘˜locked in’ by brain injury answers question using thoughts alone.’ Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the Times Online Web site:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/medicine/article7014246.ece
Monti, Martin M, Ph.D. et al. (February 3, 2010) ‘Willful Modulation of Brain Activity in Disorders of Consciousness.’ Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the New England Journal of Medicine Web site: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0905370
Stein, Rob. (February 3, 2010) ‘Brain activity detected in ‘˜vegetative’ patients.’ Retrieved on February 10, 2010 from the Seattle Times Web site:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010975417_brain04.html