Hidden Brain Signatures of Consciousness Found in Vegetative-state Patients

A team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Cambridge and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge have used high-density electroencephalographs (EEG) and a branch of math known as ‘graph theory’ to study networks of activity in the brains of 32 patients diagnosed as vegetative and minimally conscious in order to compare them to healthy adults. During the study, the researchers showed that the diversely connected networks that support awareness in a healthy brain are typically — but more importantly, not always — impaired in patients who are in a vegetative state. Throughout the study, some vegetative patients had well-preserved brain networks that looked similar to those of healthy adults. These patients were those who had shown signs of hidden awareness by following commands, such as imagining playing tennis. The findings could help researchers develop a relatively simple way of identifying which patients might be aware during a vegetative state. Unlike the tennis test, which can be a difficult task for patients and requires expensive and often unavailable fMRI scanners. This new technique uses EEG and could potentially be administered at a patient’s bedside. To read more about this study, click here.