In spite of medical advances and the increasing number of severely brain-injured patients, the assessment and treatment of patients recovering from coma remain challenging. For over 10 years now, the Coma Science Group has been working on the scientific exploration of disorders of consciousness, with both scientific and clinical research agendas. This book is the result of all this work. The aim is to offer both clinicians and researchers an opportunity to acquire expertise in a field which is constantly developing.
Besides diagnostic, prognostic and ethical issues, this book includes well-established findings on assessment techniques (i.e., behavioral scales, electrophysiological explorations and structural/functional neuroimaging) and treatment procedures, but also techniques under development (i.e., the use of classifiers, brain-computer interfaces, transcranial magnetic stimulation or deep brain stimulation) which will stimulate ideas for future research.
The Coma Science Group presents here a comprehensive book for readers, regardless of whether they are already familiar with the difficult but exciting field of disorders of consciousness.
Author(s): Caroline Schnakers Ph.D., Steve Majerus Ph.D. (auth.), Caroline Schnakers, Steven Laureys (eds.)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag London
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 172
Tags: Neurology; Rehabilitation; Internal Medicine; Neurosurgery; Psychiatry; Neuroradiology
Front Matter....Pages i-xix
Behavioral Assessment and Diagnosis of Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 1-10
Prognosis of Patients with Altered State of Consciousness....Pages 11-23
Functional Imaging and Impaired Consciousness....Pages 25-34
Multivariate Pattern Recognition Analysis: Brain Decoding....Pages 35-43
Spectroscopy and Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 45-54
Electrophysiology and Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 55-66
Brain-Computer Interface: A Communication Aid?....Pages 67-78
Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Measure Cerebral Connectivity in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 79-84
Sleep in Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 85-95
Sensory Stimulation Program....Pages 97-103
Feasibility of Oral Feeding in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 105-120
Pharmacological Treatments....Pages 121-138
Deep Brain Stimulation....Pages 139-146
The Ethics of Managing Disorders of Consciousness....Pages 147-154
Future Perspectives of Clinical Coma Science....Pages 155-162
Back Matter....Pages 163-169
