Skip navigation

You are in:  Home » Bibliography

CBU bibliography

Go to searchable bibliography index

Detecting Residual Cognitive Function in Persistent Vegetative State (PVS)

CBU number: 4141
Authors: OWEN, A.M., Menon, D.K., JOHNSRUDE, I.S., BOR, D., Scott, S.K., MANLY, T., Williams, E.J., Mummery, C. & Pickard, J.D.
Reference: Neurocase, 8(5), 394-403.
Year of publication: 2002
Abstract text: Despite converging agreement about the definition of persistent vegetative state, recent reports have raised concerns about the accuracy of diagnosis in some patients, and the extent to which, in a selection of cases, residual cognitive functions may remain undetected. Objective assessment of residual cognitive function can be extremely difficult since motor responses may be minimal, inconsistent, and difficult to document in many patients, or may be undetectable in others because no cognitive output is possible. Here we describe strategies for using H215O positron emission tomography activation studies to study covert cognitive processing in patients with a clinical diagnosis of persistent vegetative state. Three cases are described in detail. Of these, two exhibited clear and predicted regional cerebral blood flow responses during well documented activation paradigms (facej recognition and speech perception) which have been shown to produce specific, robust and reproducible activation patterns in normal volunteers. Some months after scanning, both patients made a significant recovery. In a third case, blood flow data was acquired during a speech perception task, although methodological difficulties precluded any systematic interpretation of the results. In spite of the multiple logistic and procedural problems involved, these results have major clinical and scientific implications and provide a strong basis for the systematic study of possible residual cognitive function in patients diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.
First CBU author: Owen, A.M.
Annual report number: CBUAR 45
Keywords: CBUImaging

Request a reprint

The Reprint Request service is currently unavailable. The webform interface is not passing on your requests despite saying it has.

PDF's of articles are also not available unless specifically linked from the record under the link field. Open Access papers are accessible this way when available. We are not able to fulfill pdf requests due to copyright and contractual restrictions.

Inclusion in the Bibliography does not mean that a copy is available, this is foremost a record of the unit's work. Papers marked 'In Press' have not been published so are not available. Books and tests are also not available for copying. These are commerical products and you will need to buy them, or indeed contact your local library service to get a copy.

If a record is from a conference and does not show more than one page number then the record/abstract on the page is the complete record. These are mainly a record of participation in a conference, such as a poster or a talk. Some of these records represent literally nothing more than a line.
Subject: * Request for offprint of publication 4141
Link: * http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/bibliography/articles/4141/
Message: *
Your name: *
E-mail address: *
Postal address: *

* Items marked with an asterisk [*] are required fields and must be fully completed.