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A new device used to detect consciousness in coma patients with severe brain injuries could substantially change the future of care, says a group of London researchers.
Recordings of brain activity through a portable imaging tool can now determine whether an unresponsive patient feels pain, hears their surroundings or, most of all, has preserved consciousness, they say.
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“Families of patients with severe brain injuries want to know whether their loved ones will be able to recover from their injuries,” said Dr. Derek Debicki, a neurologist at London Health Sciences Centre and scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, the research arm of London’s hospitals.
The “exciting” new tool, called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), designed for patients who can’t communicate but might still be aware, has the potential to answers long-held questions about the state of such patients, Debicki said.
After hundreds of tests in healthy people, the tool was designated to an unresponsive patient in the intensive care unit who displayed “appropriate” brain responses to the instruction: “Imagine playing a game of tennis.” To researchers, that indicated they were aware of the direction.
Besides making predictions about patients’ outcomes, the tool may also offer the chance to interact with patients who are aware but unable to display signs of typical physical interaction, according to the research.
More than two decades ago, the discovery’s early findings showed that some unresponsive patients are entirely “aware” based on results from brain recordings, said Western University neuroscientist and researcher Dr. Adrian Owen.
Researchers say it could next be used to communicate with patients in intensive care, potentially unlocking what they describe as “groundbreaking advancements in patient care.”
bbaleeiro@postmedia.com
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