[Clinical and electroencephalographic follow-up of consciousness disorders]

A report is given of the experience gained in close-meshed neurological and electroencephalographic observations of unconscious patients suffering from acute and severe brain damage of different aetiology. Only in some cases can the neurological findings be assigned to the midbrain or bulbar brain syndromes - in our material this is possible only after skull-brain traumas and subarachnoid haemorrhage but least of all after hypoxic accidents and brain operations. The vegetative functions often show inconsistency and do not always correspond with the rest of the neurological findings. Selected examples are used to make an assessment of electroencephalography in the interpretation of severe and acute brain damage.