Ontario Researchers Find Signs of Consciousness in Unresponsive Brain-Injured Patient

Unresponsive patients with severe brain injury may still be conscious despite showing no signs of awareness at the bedside, a recent study suggests. A brain-injured patient who was acutely unresponsive could control his mental activity when instructed to imagine playing tennis, researchers from London, Ont., reported in an Aug. 25 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The findings could impact decisions on patient care, said the authors, which are typically based on subjective behavioural responses. “These findings have important practical and ethical implications for the patient’s standard of care and quality of life,” reads the conclusion of the study, led by Canadians Karnig Kazazian and Androu Abdalmalak from Western University in London....