Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A NEW BRAIN scan technique may be able to tell whether a patient in a vegetative state has the potential to recover consciousness.
An article published in The Lancet journal outlines how traditional bedside examinations of patients in different states of unconsciousness lead to misdiagnosis in 40 per cent of cases.
The examinations are used to determine whether patients are in a minimally conscious state, in which there is some evidence of awareness and response to stimuli, or are in a vegetative state also known as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome.
Patients with the latter syndrome have a much lower chance of recovery and the new imagery known positron emission tomography (PET) as could help doctors decide on treatment.
“Our findings suggest that PET imaging can reveal cognitive processes that aren’t visible through traditional bedside tests, and could substantially complement standard behavioural assessments to identify unresponsive or “vegetative” patients who have the potential for long-term recovery”, says study leader Professor Steven Laureys from the University of Liége in Belgium.
The study used the new imagery technology during the course of mental imagery tasks that were being undertaken by the 126 patients who took part.
Jamie Sleigh of the University of Auckland explains how ineffective the current methods of examination can be in some cases:
In patients with substantial cerebral oedema [swelling of the brain], prediction of outcome on the basis of standard clinical examination and structural brain imaging is probably little better than flipping a coin.
One of the drawbacks of the new imagery however is that it may be difficult to roll out in hospitals on a wider basis. The study was carried out in a specialist unit that focuses on the neuroimaging of consciousness disorders and therefore had a level of expertise and equipment that would not be present in most clinics.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
He is alive and well and living in the White House under another guise.
@Phillip Smyth: Don’t say that ffs, you’ll summon the incell Johnny 40 accounts (or whatever his name is)
@Daniel Skelton: That’s what it’s like alright.
@Phillip Smyth: That’s a very unfair comparison on ogre’s
I could listen to John Lithgows voice all day!
@Brian Dunne: what is this shitting mess a quiz on kids tv a load of bollox what about adult news?
9/10 = too much
@Tasty k:
Same, got the year for Shrek receiving the star wrong.
He gave them Javelins they were surplus to requirements and not used, what a spoofer, he will never be a Roosevelt if it comes to war, at least this time we have Germany with us.
@Phillip Smyth: uk leading the war as always don’t worry we will save Ireland but you need to pay the apple money
I appreciate Shreks important but still an unusual Saturday news focus given Ukraine. The coverage of the meeting in London with Zelensky is headlines elsewhere. See RTE or BBC.
@J B: What are you on about?
@J B: Great answer Einstein.
7/10. Stupid not knowing that characters name and 2 other answers
Really? He played for United
@Oh Mammy: Wasn’t Shrek. That was a balloon with a Weetabix crushed on top.
@Oh Mammy: and like a lot of very talented players, he turned out to be a very unconvincing gaffer for Derby, Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle.
What ? Nothing ! Have I missed something ?
He enjoyed a lot of success as a forward for club and country and was briefly England’s leading goal scorer before being overtaken by Harry Kane.
France and Britain, colonialists supreme, divvying up the minerals of Ukraine for themselves. What a pointless war.
Didn’t the Gardai arrest a bunch of Provos with his posters in a van?
I’d say he’d leave some shite behind him
have your say