Can Eye Tracking Help Assess the State of Consciousness in Non-Verbal Brain Injury Patients?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Technology
• Clinical Assessment

Background:

• Eye-tracking technology offers new avenues for assessing visual behavior in patients with disorders of consciousness.
• Eye movements are correlated with a patient's level of consciousness, making eye-tracking a potential diagnostic tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate an eye-tracking tool, the Minimally Conscious State Detection (MCSD) test.
• To compare MCSD test results with the established Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) for assessing consciousness.

Main Methods:

• A multi-center clinical trial involving 46 non-verbally communicative patients with severe brain injuries.
• Patients underwent the MCSD eye-tracking test five times over 14 days, with data analyzed according to regulatory standards.
• Passing-Bablok regression analysis was used to assess measurement equivalence between MCSD and CRS-R.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was found between MCSD and CRS-R in the change of scores from T1 to T5 or in total scores across all time points.
• The third and subsequent MCSD measurements were identified as reliable, with the first two serving for patient familiarization.
• A significant relationship was observed between MCSD and CRS-R scores.

Conclusions:

• The MCSD eye-tracking test demonstrates a significant correlation with the CRS-R, validating its use.
• Eye-tracking technology can provide more objective assessments of consciousness and potentially reduce healthcare personnel workload.
• Introducing eye-tracking assessments for consciousness levels is a reasonable advancement in neurological diagnostics.