Perturbational complexity index in assessing responsiveness to rTMS treatment in patients with disorders of consciousness: a cross-over randomized controlled trial study.

Background: Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) caused by severe brain injuries represent a challenging clinical entity, which is easy to misdiagnosis and lacks effective treatment options. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive neuroelectric stimulation method that shows promise in improving consciousness for DoC, especially in minimally conscious state (MCS). However, there is little evidence of its effectiveness, especially in RCT studies.

Individualized music induces theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling in patients with disorders of consciousness.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) could experience neural entrainment to individualized music, which explored the cross-modal influences of music on patients with DoC through phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). Furthermore, the study assessed the efficacy of individualized music or preferred music (PM) versus relaxing music (RM) in impacting patient outcomes, and examined the role of cross-modal influences in determining these outcomes.

Methods: Thirty-two patients with DoC [17 with vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (/UWS) and 15 with minimally conscious state (MCS)], alongside 16 healthy controls (HCs), were recruited for this study.