Johan Stender, Olivia Gosseries, Marie-Aurélie Bruno, Vanessa Charland-Verville, Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse, Athena Demertzi, Camille Chatelle, Marie Thonnard, Aurore Thibaut, Lizette Heine, Andrea Soddu, Mélanie Boly, Caroline Schnakers, Albert Gjedde, Steven Laureys
BACKGROUND: Bedside clinical examinations can have high rates of misdiagnosis of unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (vegetative state) or minimally conscious state. The diagnostic and prognostic usefulness of neuroimaging-based approaches has not been established in a clinical setting. We did a validation study of two neuroimaging-based diagnostic methods: PET imaging and functional MRI (fMRI). METHODS: For this clinical validation study, we included patients referred to the University Hospital of Liège, Belgium, between January, 2008, and June, 2012, who were diagnosed by our unit with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, locked-in syndrome, or minimally conscious state with traumatic or non-traumatic causes...
August 9, 2014: Lancet