Background: Disorders of consciousness (DoC) refers to a group of clinical conditions of altered consciousness. To improve their diagnosis and prognosis, multimodal assessment can be of great importance. Informal caregivers of people with DoC who are confronted with new technologies as such can benefit from interventions to expand their health literacy, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Improving the functional recovery of patients with DoC remains one of the greatest challenges of the field. Different theories exist about the role of the anterior (prefrontal areas) versus posterior (parietal areas) parts of the brain as hotspots for the recovery of consciousness. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a powerful non-invasive brain stimulation technique for the treatment of DoC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to improve signs of consciousness in a subset of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC). However, no multicentre study confirmed its efficacy when applied during rehabilitation. In this randomized controlled double-blind study, the effects of tDCS whilst patients were in rehabilitation were tested at the group level and according to their diagnosis and aetiology to better target DoC patients who might repond to tDCS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Modern consciousness research has developed diagnostic tests to improve the diagnostic accuracy of different states of consciousness via electroencephalography (EEG)-based mental motor imagery (MI), which is still challenging and lacks a consensus on how to best analyse MI EEG-data. An optimally designed and analyzed paradigm must detect command-following in all healthy individuals, before it can be applied in patients, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVerticalization is a common therapeutic intervention during rehabilitation of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC). The Erigo®Pro is a robotic tilt-table (RTT) with built-in stepping unit for the lower extremities to prevent orthostatic hypotension during verticalization. In addition, the system also provides functional electrical stimulation (FES) of muscles of the lower extremities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF