Formula One
star Michael Schumacher is awake again after almost six months in a coma.
Belgium researchers have found new ways of detecting brain activity in patients
who won't wake up.
Deutsche Welle, 16 June 2014
 |
| A nurse with a patient in a coma. (Photo: Wolfgang Weihs) |
Michael
Schumacher is now conscious and responds to simple instructions, his manager
reported on Monday (16.06.2014). The 45-year-old was awakened from an
artificial coma by his doctors. But what about patients who can't be brought
back to consciousness? A new technique that could give hope to families of
patients in a persistent vegetative state has been developed in Belgium.
Scientists
claim that their new scanning method can pick up radiation from active
molecules injected into the blood to assess the level of glucose metabolism in
different parts of the brain – as these simply "light up" on the scan
and may mean that a patient could come out of the comatose state.
 |
| Schumacher is awake after six months in a coma, but it's not clear what condition he's in |
Hidden
signs of consciousness
Experts say
that up to 40 percent of patients are misdiagnosed by current bedside tests for
signs of life when they're in a persistent vegetative state. Medical
professionals and families who've gone through the anguish of having to decide
about whether to turn off a life support machine have been calling for help to
allow them to make an educated decision. Research by scientists in Belgium may
be the help they need.
"We
are interested in the functioning of the brain in patients who are comatose and
who can develop chronic disorders of consciousness such as the vegetative
state," Steven Laureys, director of the Coma Science Group at University
Hospital in Liege, told DW. "Is there any form of consciousness and if not
can we predict the chances of recovery? We try to use these new technologies,
brain scans, to directly measure what's happening in their brain."
Laureys
says that roughly one third of the cases sent to his center come in with a
wrong diagnosis. That's why it's so important that doctors use standardized
tools, explains Laureys - to not miss signs of consciousness.
Detecting
brain activity
Research at
the Belgian hospital focuses on two different techniques. The first one is
functional MRI testing. Doctors ask a patient to lift their hand. If he isn't
responsive, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's fully unconscious - he
could be paralyzed as well.
That's why
the doctors also look at the patient's brain activity. Sometimes they can see
on the MRI that the motor-cortex in the patient's brain is activated when he's
asked to move his hand. That means he can process the question, he just can't
move.
The other
test is the PET scan, where a marker fluid is injected into the patient's
brain. "Injecting radioactively labeled glucose into the brain is using a
lot of energy, so we can visualize the glucose uptake in the brain,"
Laureys explained. "If you're comatose or unresponsive, the brain shows a
very low activity in the so-called consciousness network. But as soon as there
are minimal signs of consciousness, there start to be highlights in the brain
that have near normal activity."
Patients
with these signs of consciousness also show better signs of recovery at the
one-year follow-up exams.
 |
| Laureys: doctors need to make sure not to miss signs of consciousness |
Helping
families in times of need
Better
prognostic information would also help patients and their families make better
decisions about the care they need. Judy Taylor runs the charity "Brain
Injury Is Big" in the UK, which she set-up with four other women whom she
met in a neuro-disability ward in London. It was after Judy's husband Simon had
been seriously hurt in an accident.
"After
about 10 months it was confirmed that he was in a persistent vegetative state,
but over the next year and a half he did actually begin to show signs of
emerging from a vegetative state to a minimally conscious one," Taylor
told DW. "He would smile intermittently if he heard a friendly voice, or
he would lift up his thumbs or his hands if you asked him to. It was enough to
know that he was making some improvement, even if it was only very
little."
Simon died
when he couldn't fight off a bout of pneumonia in April 2012. Such a natural
death is hard enough for surviving family and friends. But what happens when
the body of a patient degrades to the point at which there is almost nothing
left and their family is faced with the question of whether or not to
switch-off life support?
That's what
happened to Christopher Watson. After two and a half years on life support, his
family decided the quality of his life had deteriorated so much that his
suffering had to end. But it took two years in the UK courts for them to get
approval.
"The
legal battle that we faced was something that I would not wish upon
anybody," Christopher's brother Andrew Watson said.
Expanding
the research
The impact
of the research done by Laureys and his team in Belgium could be huge -
offering a clear indication, for the first time, of which patients may stand a
chance of recovery and for whom there is little chance of regaining any
meaningful quality of life. That could help avoid lawsuits like the one the
Watson family had to go through.
Laureys ran
his trial on just over a hundred people and he hopes to repeat it on a much
larger scale. Although the technology is expensive, neuroscientists believe it
will become cheaper and more common in hospitals in the future and provide a
real breakthrough for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with severe brain
injury.
Kryon Q&A
Related Articles:
Question (2002): Dear
Kryon: I've just read the question about what happens as our earth body dies,
and I'd like to add another issue: What happens during some diseases as
Alzheimer disease, what happens to our spiritual body during the loss of
memory, or when our earth body works as a vegetable?
Answer: This very year we have addressed the fact that you are actually "multiple entities." All of you! When what you call normal Human consciousness leaves the body through disease or injury, this "spark of divinity" you call the personality, is transferred to what you call The Higher-Self. No energy is every destroyed. Instead, it just moves somewhere else. Therefore that life that is in limbo is there for YOUR lesson, not theirs. They have elected this path (believe it or not), and now are here holding space for you and others in a less than aware state. But for them? They are already over here. . . celebrating and loving you for your service to them!
Answer: This very year we have addressed the fact that you are actually "multiple entities." All of you! When what you call normal Human consciousness leaves the body through disease or injury, this "spark of divinity" you call the personality, is transferred to what you call The Higher-Self. No energy is every destroyed. Instead, it just moves somewhere else. Therefore that life that is in limbo is there for YOUR lesson, not theirs. They have elected this path (believe it or not), and now are here holding space for you and others in a less than aware state. But for them? They are already over here. . . celebrating and loving you for your service to them!
"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death)
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