BACKGROUND: A major challenge in the management of severely brain-injured patients with altered states of consciousness is to estimate their residual perception of the environment. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the integrity of detection of one's own name in patients in a behaviorally well-documented vegetative state (VS), patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS), and patients with locked-in syndrome. DESIGN: We recorded the auditory evoked potentials to the patient's own name and to 7 other equiprobable first names in 15 brain-damaged patients. RESULTS: A P3 component was observed in response to the patient's name in all patients with locked-in syndrome, in all MCS patients, and in 3 of 5 patients in a VS. P3 latency was significantly (P<.05) delayed for MCS and VS patients compared with healthy volunteers. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that partially preserved semantic processing could be observed in noncommunicative brain-damaged patients, notably for the detection of salient stimuli, such as the subject's own name. This function seems delayed in MCS and (if present) in VS patients. More important, a P3 response does not necessarily reflect conscious perception and cannot be used to differentiate VS from MCS patients.
BACKGROUND: A major challenge in the management of severely brain-injured patients with altered states of consciousness is to estimate their residual perception of the environment. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the integrity of detection of one's own name in patients in a behaviorally well-documented vegetative state (VS), patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS), and patients with locked-in syndrome. DESIGN: We recorded the auditory evoked potentials to the patient's own name and to 7 other equiprobable first names in 15 brain-damaged patients. RESULTS: A P3 component was observed in response to the patient's name in all patients with locked-in syndrome, in all MCS patients, and in 3 of 5 patients in a VS. P3 latency was significantly (P<.05) delayed for MCS and VS patients compared with healthy volunteers. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that partially preserved semantic processing could be observed in noncommunicative brain-damaged patients, notably for the detection of salient stimuli, such as the subject's own name. This function seems delayed in MCS and (if present) in VS patients. More important, a P3 response does not necessarily reflect conscious perception and cannot be used to differentiate VS from MCS patients.
Authors: Andrew M Goldfine; Jonathan D Victor; Mary M Conte; Jonathan C Bardin; Nicholas D Schiff Journal: Clin Neurophysiol Date: 2011-04-21 Impact factor: 3.708
Authors: Tristan A Bekinschtein; Stanislas Dehaene; Benjamin Rohaut; François Tadel; Laurent Cohen; Lionel Naccache Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2009-01-21 Impact factor: 11.205