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Making Every Word Count for Nonresponsive Patients
JAMA Neurol 70:1235-1241, Naci, L. & Owen, A.M., 2013
See this aricle in Pubmed

Article Abstract
To our knowledge, we show for the first time with functional magnetic resonance imaging that behaviorally nonresponsive patients can use selective auditory attention to convey their ability to follow commands and communicate. One patient in a minimally conscious state was able to use attention to establish functional communication in the scanner, despite his inability to produce any communication responses in repeated bedside examinations. More important, patient, who had been in a vegetative state for 12 years before the scanning and subsequent to it, was able to use attention to correctly communicate answers to several binary questions. The technique may be useful in establishing basic communication with patients who appear unresponsive to bedside examinations and cannot respond with existing neuroimaging methods.
 
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attention
awareness
coma
communication
comprehension
follow commands
locked-in syndrome
minimally conscious state
MRI
MRI,functional
nonresponsive
persistent vegetative state
quality of life
unconsciousness

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