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A Bedside, Single Burr Hole Approach to Multimodality Monitoring in Severe Brain Injury
Published on: March 26, 2019
BCI Performance and Brain Metabolism Profile in Severely Brain-Injured Patients Without Response to Command at
Jitka Annen1, Séverine Blandiaux1, Nicolas Lejeune1,2,3
1GIGA Consciousness, Coma Science Group, University and University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Abstract:
Detection and interpretation of signs of "covert command following" in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) remains a challenge for clinicians. In this study, we used a tactile P3-based BCI in 12 patients without behavioral command following, attempting to establish "covert command following." These results were then confronted to cerebral metabolism preservation as measured with glucose PET (FDG-PET). One patient showed "covert command following" (i.e., above-threshold BCI performance) during the active tactile paradigm. This patient also showed a higher cerebral glucose metabolism within the language network (presumably required for command following) when compared with the other patients without "covert command-following" but having a cerebral glucose metabolism indicative of minimally conscious state. Our results suggest that the P3-based BCI might probe "covert command following" in patients without behavioral response to command and therefore could be a valuable addition in the clinical assessment of patients with DOC.
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