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Brain Responsiveness After Severe Brain Injury: Revolutions and Controversies

  • Chapter
Brain Function and Responsiveness in Disorders of Consciousness

Abstract

In the past 18 years, neuroimaging techniques have become central to studying the healthy and pathological brain. In the context of disorders of consciousness, neuroimaging approaches have radically changed our understanding of how much cortical and cognitive function can be retained after severe brain injury. In this chapter we review some of the main contributions these approaches have given to the field of disorders of consciousness, and we discuss both the power of these techniques and the main complexities tied to employing them to assess residual brain function in otherwise nonresponsive individuals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Which is the pattern of activation observed in healthy volunteers performing the same task

  2. 2.

    Even if, currently, the interpretation of the results presented in [31] has been subject to debate

  3. 3.

    An additional 4 MCS patients were included in the analysis, but because of excessive movement, their data could not be meaningfully analyzed – another important issue in the domain of neuroimaging assessments.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Evan S. Lutkenhoff & Martin M. Monti

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Brain Injury Research Center, Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Martin M. Monti

Authors
  1. Evan S. Lutkenhoff
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  2. Martin M. Monti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin M. Monti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychology and Neurosurgery, University of California, L.A., Los Angeles, California, USA

    Martin M. Monti

  2. Dept of Neurosc, Ophthalmol and Genetics, University of Genova, Genova, Italy

    Walter G. Sannita

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Lutkenhoff, E.S., Monti, M.M. (2016). Brain Responsiveness After Severe Brain Injury: Revolutions and Controversies. In: Monti, M., Sannita, W. (eds) Brain Function and Responsiveness in Disorders of Consciousness. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21425-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21425-2_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21424-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21425-2

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