ICYMI: A Portion of Unresponsive Brain Injury Patients Are Actually Conscious

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to evaluate brain activity among patients with brain injuries who were unresponsive.

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Around a quarter of brain injury patients who can’t outwardly communicate are nonetheless conscious, according to a cohort study published August 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The patients couldn’t complete a task like moving a finger when verbally asked; however, researchers detected brain activity in some patients when monitoring them with brain imaging techniques.

Two hundred and forty-one unresponsive patients from medical centers around the world were asked to picture themselves completing tasks like playing tennis while researchers measured potential brain activity, according to Nature. Researchers examined patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), or both tools. The tests picked up brain activity for around 25% of unresponsive patients during the tests.

Big Picture: A person’s ability to respond mentally, but not physically, to cognitive tasks is a condition known as cognitive motor dissociation. Although previous, smaller studies have documented the phenomenon, this latest one assessed a larger cohort of patients. According to Nature, experts believe further testing and standardization in study methods across facilities could reveal an even higher percentage of patients are conscious, which would have important implications for patient care. The publication also noted that seemingly unresponsive patients could potentially use BCIs, or brain-computer interfaces, to communicate with loved ones and care teams.

Read More: One-quarter of unresponsive people with brain injuries are conscious. Nature

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About the Author

Bella Isaacs-Thomas

Bella is the Staff Writer and Editor for BrainFacts. She previously worked as a digital science reporter at PBS NewsHour, where she was named a fellow in the 2022-2023 class of the National Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellowships (SHERF) and earned a 2021 D.C. Science Writers Association Newsbrief Award for writing. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in 2018.