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Detection of Consciousness in the Severely Injured Brain

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Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015

Part of the book series: Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015 ((AUICEM,volume 2015))

Abstract

Improvements in neurosurgical and neurological intensive care have led to increased numbers of survivors from severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Following coma, some patients undergo transition into prolonged disorders of consciousness, including minimally conscious state (MCS) and the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) [1]. The clinical hallmarks of consciousness are arousal and awareness. In chronic disorders of consciousness, patients commonly reestablish subcortical functions of arousal, but with decline or absence of cortical functions, leading to loss of awareness. Whereas UWS patients show no responsiveness at the bedside, MCS patients elicit fluctuating but reproducible signs of awareness of their surroundings. By convention, emergence from MCS occurs when the patient regains a capacity for functional communication or object use. Long-term recovery of consciousness from UWS remains uncertain, but progression into MCS is an important indicator of better prognosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cyclotron Research Center and Neurology Department, University and University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    J. Stender & S. Laureys

  2. Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    J. Stender & A. Gjedde

Authors
  1. J. Stender
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  2. A. Gjedde
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  3. S. Laureys
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Stender .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université libre de Bruxelles, Dept. of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

    Jean-Louis Vincent Prof.

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Stender, J., Gjedde, A., Laureys, S. (2015). Detection of Consciousness in the Severely Injured Brain. In: Vincent, JL. (eds) Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015. Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015, vol 2015. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13761-2_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13761-2_36

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13760-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13761-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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