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http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2011/11/111110_comunicacion_estado_vegetativo_men.shtml
Spanish to English translation
Found how to communicate with patients in a vegetative state
BBC Health
Thursday, November 10, 2011
With a simple portable electroencephalography (EEG) scientists discovered how to communicate with patients who were thought to be in permanent vegetative state.
The method involves a portable electroencephalography (EEG).
The device failed to detect and measure awareness brain electrical activity in these individuals, which revealed that patients were able to understand what they were told and follow an instruction to certain thoughts.
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The research, published in the journal The Lancet , says that the technique is painless and requires only attach electrodes to the patient's head.
As pointed out by scientists at the Center for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario in Canada, it is expected that the finding can be used as diagnostic tool in homes and hospitals.
The study involved 16 patients at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England and University Hospital of Liege, Belgium.
All had been diagnosed in a vegetative state, a condition in which the person, who may have suffered a severe head injury or was in a coma, awake but not aware of what happens around him or herself.
Some studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that these patients may be aware, but this technique is very expensive and rarely used for this diagnosis.
And many patients who suffer a severe brain injury with metal implants which completely rule out the use of fMRI.
To test the new method, researchers asked patients to imagine that moving the toes and pressed his right hand.
The study also included 12 healthy individuals to compare the results.
The results showed that three (19%) of 16 patients were repeatedly generating electrical brain activity in response to two different directions, although behaviorally showed no response.
As explained by Professor Adrian Owen, author of the study, "many areas of the brain that are activated when you make a move is also activated when you think that they're doing."
"We know these three patients were conscious because they were able to respond repeatedly to the instructions we gave you."
"One of the patients could do it over 100 times," adds the scientist.
Misdiagnoses
" The development of a technique which allows a classification of mental images of a patient routinely allow two-way communication with these patients. allowing them to share information about their inner world, their experiences and their needs "
Prof. Adrian Owen
Compared with the technique of fMRI, EEG devices with cheap and portable.
As Professor Owen says "this is very encouraging because it means you can take the method to the communications, transportation to patients in nursing homes or rehabilitation centers, and assess many more patients admitted to see if we can detect no consciousness manifest" .
The scientist added that "this method could reach all patients in a vegetative state and fundamentally change the assessment given in the hospital."
For his part, Professor Helen Gill-Twait, a specialist in the diagnosis of lower states of consciousness in the Royal Hospital for neurodisability in London, notes that "for a small proportion of patients the EEG could be a useful tool in the process of diagnosis. "
"It could also be a useful aid but not a replacement for current methods of evaluating patients with severe brain injuries."
"Unfortunately, I work outside the hospital I found many patients who have never been subjected to appropriate assessment and have been misdiagnosed with a vegetative state," adds the expert.
And Professor Paul Matthews, a specialist in clinical neuroscience at Imperial College London states that "the approach suggests a simple and practical way that could help some of these patients to communicate."
"This innovative study has been fundamental brain science directly to the clinic. Now they must prioritize efforts to investigate further."
As stated by Professor Owen, the author of the study, the development of a technique which allows a classification of mental images of a patient "will allow two-way communication routine with these patients."
"Which will allow them to share information about their inner world, their experiences and their needs."
Spanish to English translation
Found how to communicate with patients in a vegetative state
BBC Health
Thursday, November 10, 2011
With a simple portable electroencephalography (EEG) scientists discovered how to communicate with patients who were thought to be in permanent vegetative state.
The method involves a portable electroencephalography (EEG).
The device failed to detect and measure awareness brain electrical activity in these individuals, which revealed that patients were able to understand what they were told and follow an instruction to certain thoughts.
Related Content
Vegetative Patients "can answer"
What it feels like to die is a "mental trick"
The electrical stimulation helps learning
The research, published in the journal The Lancet , says that the technique is painless and requires only attach electrodes to the patient's head.
As pointed out by scientists at the Center for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario in Canada, it is expected that the finding can be used as diagnostic tool in homes and hospitals.
The study involved 16 patients at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England and University Hospital of Liege, Belgium.
All had been diagnosed in a vegetative state, a condition in which the person, who may have suffered a severe head injury or was in a coma, awake but not aware of what happens around him or herself.
Some studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that these patients may be aware, but this technique is very expensive and rarely used for this diagnosis.
And many patients who suffer a severe brain injury with metal implants which completely rule out the use of fMRI.
To test the new method, researchers asked patients to imagine that moving the toes and pressed his right hand.
The study also included 12 healthy individuals to compare the results.
The results showed that three (19%) of 16 patients were repeatedly generating electrical brain activity in response to two different directions, although behaviorally showed no response.
As explained by Professor Adrian Owen, author of the study, "many areas of the brain that are activated when you make a move is also activated when you think that they're doing."
"We know these three patients were conscious because they were able to respond repeatedly to the instructions we gave you."
"One of the patients could do it over 100 times," adds the scientist.
Misdiagnoses
" The development of a technique which allows a classification of mental images of a patient routinely allow two-way communication with these patients. allowing them to share information about their inner world, their experiences and their needs "
Prof. Adrian Owen
Compared with the technique of fMRI, EEG devices with cheap and portable.
As Professor Owen says "this is very encouraging because it means you can take the method to the communications, transportation to patients in nursing homes or rehabilitation centers, and assess many more patients admitted to see if we can detect no consciousness manifest" .
The scientist added that "this method could reach all patients in a vegetative state and fundamentally change the assessment given in the hospital."
For his part, Professor Helen Gill-Twait, a specialist in the diagnosis of lower states of consciousness in the Royal Hospital for neurodisability in London, notes that "for a small proportion of patients the EEG could be a useful tool in the process of diagnosis. "
"It could also be a useful aid but not a replacement for current methods of evaluating patients with severe brain injuries."
"Unfortunately, I work outside the hospital I found many patients who have never been subjected to appropriate assessment and have been misdiagnosed with a vegetative state," adds the expert.
And Professor Paul Matthews, a specialist in clinical neuroscience at Imperial College London states that "the approach suggests a simple and practical way that could help some of these patients to communicate."
"This innovative study has been fundamental brain science directly to the clinic. Now they must prioritize efforts to investigate further."
As stated by Professor Owen, the author of the study, the development of a technique which allows a classification of mental images of a patient "will allow two-way communication routine with these patients."
"Which will allow them to share information about their inner world, their experiences and their needs."