Study Detects Consciousness in Unresponsive Severe Brain Injury Patients
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With surprising frequency , patients with severe brain injury can show clear signs of cognitive function on brain scans in response to requests to carry out complex mental work , even when they can ’ t move or speak , according to an international study co-led by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators .
The study , published Aug . 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine , was the largest-ever investigation of the prevalence of this condition , which is called cognitive-motor dissociation . The researchers observed that among 241 patients in a coma or vegetative state who could not make visible responses to bedside commands , one-fourth had sustained and relevant cognitive responses as shown on electroencephalography ( EEG ) readouts or functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) scans . The patients were tested with consent from a surrogate at six academic medical centers , all part of a larger consortium that undertook the study .
“ We find that this kind of sharp dissociation of retained cognitive capabilities and no behavioral evidence of them is not uncommon ,”