In a rare instance, a 35-year-old man in France who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years has shown signs of consciousness for the first time after neurosurgeons administered a nerve stimulation therapy.<\/p>\n
The findings reported in the journal Current Biology showed that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) \u2013 a treatment already in use for epilepsy and depression \u2013 can help to restore consciousness even after many years in a vegetative state.<\/p>\n
The outcome challenges the general belief that disorders of consciousness that persist for longer than 12 months are irreversible, the researchers said.<\/p>\n
A vegetative state is when a person is awake but is showing no signs of awareness. A person is considered to be in a permanent vegetative state when it has been more than six months if caused by a non-traumatic brain injury, or more than 12 months if caused by a traumatic brain injury, according to the UK\u2019s National Health Service (NHS).<\/p>\n
By stimulating the vagus nerve, \u201cit is possible to improve a patient\u2019s presence in the world\u201d, said Angela Sirigu of Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod in Lyon, France.<\/p>\n
The vagus nerve connects the brain to many other parts of the body, including the gut.<\/p>\n
It is known to be important in waking, alertness, and many other essential functions.<\/p>\n
To test the ability of VNS to restore consciousness, the researchers wanted to select a difficult case to ensure that any improvements could not be explained by chance.<\/p>\n
They looked to a patient who had been lying in a vegetative state for more than a decade with no sign of improvement.<\/p>\n
After one month of vagal nerve stimulation, the patient\u2019s attention, movements and brain activity significantly improved, the researchers said.<\/p>\n
The man began responding to simple orders that had been impossible before. For example, he could follow an object with his eyes and turn his head upon request.<\/p>\n
His mother reported an improved ability to stay awake when listening to his therapist reading a book.<\/p>\n
After stimulation, the researchers also observed responses to \u201cthreat\u201d that had been absent.<\/p>\n
For instance, when the examiner\u2019s head suddenly approached the patient\u2019s face, he reacted with surprise by opening his eyes wide.<\/p>\n
After many years in a vegetative state, he had entered a state of minimal consciousness.<\/p>\n
Recordings of brain activity also revealed major changes.<\/p>\n
The researchers said they are now planning a large collaborative study to confirm and extend the therapeutic potential of VNS for patients in a vegetative or minimally conscious state.<\/p>\n
In addition to helping patients, the findings will also advance understanding of \u201cthis fascinating capacity of our mind to produce conscious experience\u201d, Sirigu said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a rare instance, a 35-year-old man in France who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years has shown signs of consciousness for the first time after neurosurgeons administered a nerve stimulation therapy. The findings reported in the journal Current Biology showed that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) \u2013 a treatment already in use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,315],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6095,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6093\/revisions\/6095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}