Hidden Consciousness Detected with EEG Predicts Recovery of Unresponsive Patients

A new study finds that signs of covert consciousness--subtle brainwaves detectable with EEG--are the strongest predictor of eventual recovery for brain-injured patients who otherwise appear completely unresponsive. 

The findings suggest brainwave analysis has the potential to completely change how unresponsive patients with acute brain injury are managed. 

The study was published online in Lancet Neurology. 

“One of the most difficult challenges in ICU care is determining whether an unresponsive patient with a brain injury is likely to recover and to identify those that may benefit most from rehabilitation,” says study leader Jan Claassen, MD, associate professor of neurology and chief of critical care and hospitalist neurology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. [read more]

Source: CUIMC Newsroom