Eye-opening study: 1 in 4 ‘unresponsive’ brain-injury patients actually can do ‘cognitive tasks’
Those people who have sustained brain injuries and are hospitalized in an unresponsive state sometimes provide the biggest puzzles in health care.
Sometimes their condition is a result of an accident, or injury, and sometimes it may come about because of a heart attack or stroke.
There are no strict rules for such cases as some patients live for years and then die without returning to consciousness, while others spring suddenly awake after weeks or even months in what appears to be a coma.
Stunningly, there are those who die from deliberate actions, starvation and the deprivation of fluids, as doctors and family give up on them.
But those suffering those conditions may be more cognizant that many realize.
A report from the Christian Institute in the United Kingdom explains, “Researchers have demonstrated that a quarter of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) can follow simple commands cognitively. In an international study of 241 brain injury patients, 60 performed ‘a cognitive task’ as detected on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) scans.”
There are an estimated 25,000 such patients in U.K. hospitals and homes, the report said.
“Some patients with severe brain injury do not appear to be processing their external world. However, when they are assessed with advanced techniques such as task-based fMRI and EEG, we can detect brain activity that suggests otherwise,” said study author Yelena Bodien.
She continued, “These results bring up critical ethical, clinical, and scientific questions, such as how can we harness that unseen cognitive capacity to establish a system of communication and promote further recovery?”
The report warns of horrific consequences, such as withholding food and water or withdrawal of life support, and cited the case of U.K. teenager Jack Dolan, left in an apparent vegetative state following an accident, who rallied after his life support was removed.
Jack’s stepfather, David Dolan, explained in the report, “Jack is blowing everything doctors said out the water. He is moving his arms, wiggling his toes, holding eye contact and, while in pain with belly ache, looked his mum in the eye and said ‘help.'”
A report at the Independent explains the study monitored brain activity while patients were told to imagine opening and closing your hand or imagine playing tennis.
The report said experts believe now there is “an ethical obligation to engage with these patients, to try to help them connect to the world.”
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