Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics and short-term pattern of evolution of a sample of patients within 1 year after acquiring a brain injury that led to a vegetative state (VS) or a minimally conscious state (MCS).
Design: Cohort study.
Setting: Inpatient brain injury rehabilitation program.
Objective: To study the relationship between thalamic glucose metabolism and neurological outcome after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Methods: Forty-nine patients with severe and closed TBI and 10 healthy control subjects with (18)F-FDG PET were studied. Patients were divided into three groups: MCS&VS group (n = 17), patients in a vegetative or a minimally conscious state; In-PTA group (n = 12), patients in a state of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA); and Out-PTA group (n = 20), patients who had emerged from PTA.