Personal Injury Blog

Researchers Develop Device for Communication with Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

November 16th, 2011
Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

It is possible to communicate with some persons in a vegetative state

With the help of a new device, doctors may be able to communicate with traumatic brain injury patients who have been left in a vegetative state.  A team of UK researchers at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge have developed a device that can be used to measure electrical activity in the brain as a means of detecting the level of consciousness of the patient.  The researchers have published their findings in The Lancet journal.

In the case of a severe traumatic brain injury, a person may be left in a state where there is no sense of awareness of the surroundings or of themselves.  These people are said to be in a vegetative state.  They’re technically believed to be awake, but have no sensory awareness.

However, the researchers have successfully used a device known as EEG to communicate with these patients.  The treatment involves the use of electrodes attached to the head.  The researchers asked these patients to imagine certain physical movements, like moving their toes or their hand.  Out of sixteen patients, at least three of them were able to repeatedly obey the instructions.  One of the patients, in fact, was able to respond to the commands more than 100 times.  Researchers are concluding that it is possible to communicate with some persons in a vegetative state, while using functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques.

The device is inexpensive and portable, and doctors are planning to take the device to hospitals and nursing homes in order to determine the level of consciousness of patients who are believed to be in a vegetative state.  For patients who have been diagnosed to be in a vegetative state, this device could help in the diagnostic process.  Los Angeles brain injury lawyers believe that this device could help diagnose those patients who have been wrongly diagnosed as being in a vegetative state.  The device would not be used as a means of treatment of patients, but as a means of diagnosis.

A traumatic brain injury is one of the most life-altering injuries that a person can suffer.  Most of these injuries occur in automobile accidents, and motorcycle accidents.  Falls, and assaults also often lead to brain injuries.  A brain injury may be mild, moderate or severe.   Even mild injuries can have long-term consequences if the injury is ignored.  For instance, concussions are fairly common injuries that can lead to complications, if a person suffers another concussion soon after the first, or is not given enough time to rest and recuperate after the first injury.

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