Some brain activity in vegetative state

CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- British and Belgian researchers say they have communicated with a patient in a vegetative state through the person's thoughts.

The patient was one of 54 patients with consciousness disorders studied by researchers in Cambridge, England, and Liege, Belgium.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess each patient's ability to generate willful, neuroanatomically specific, blood-oxygen level-dependent responses during two established mental-imagery tasks.

A technique was then developed to determine whether such tasks could be used to communicate yes-or-no answers to simple questions.

Of the 54 patients studied, five willfully modulated their brain activity. In three of these patients, additional bedside testing revealed some sign of awareness, but in the other two patients, no voluntary behavior could be detected by means of clinical assessment.

One patient used the technique to answer yes or no to questions during functional MRI; however, were unable to establish any form of bedside communication.

The BBC described that one patient as a Belgian man injured in a traffic accident seven years ago.

"We were astonished when we saw the results of the patient's scan and that he was able to correctly answer the questions that were asked by simply changing his thoughts," said Dr. Adrian Owen of the Medical Research Council, who co-authored the report.

In the future, patients in a vegetative state may be able to participate in their care.

"You could ask if patients were in pain and if so prescribe painkillers and you could go on to ask them about their emotional state," Owen said.

The researchers' findings are published in The New England Journal of Medicine.