Clinical Picture
4 Clinical Picture Leon Sazbon and Giuliano Dolce General Considerations Patients in the vegetative state (VS) are placed in specialized recovery units after an initial period of days or weeks…
Practical Guide to the Management of Patients in the Vegetative State
Maria Quintieri and Sebastiano Serra General Considerations The recuperation of conscious activity is the main therapeutic goal and prevailing task in the treatment of patients in the vegetative state. A…
Neurophysiopathology
3 Neurophysiopathology Giuliano Dolce and Leon Sazbon Relationship with the Outer World From a neurophysiological point of view, the brain structures and functional organization regulating conscious activity and allowing awake…
Ancillary Examination
5 Ancillary xamination Laboratory Findings Leon Sazbon Although some laboratory parameters have prognostic significance in acute head injury, they are of minimal or no value for evaluating the vegetative…
Preliminary Concepts
2 Preliminary Concepts Leon Sazbon and Giuliano Dolce Etiology Vegetative state (VS) is defined behaviorally as the absence of an adequate response to the outside world and absence of any…
Introduction
1 Introduction The progression from unconsciousness and coma to recovered wakefulness – either direct or with a transition through a condition such as the vegetative state – is often characterized…
Intensive-Care Unit for Vegetative State: Management Guidelines
12 Intensive-Care Unit for Vegetative State: Management Guidelines M. Rachele Zylberman This chapter aims to present various modalities, parameters, references, and suggestions which in clinical experience have proved helpful and…
Covert Cognitive Abilities of a Person with Altered Consciousness
11 Covert Cognitive Abilities of a Person with Altered Consciousness Levy Rahmani This chapter outlines a prospective, rehabilitation-oriented investigation at the bedside of possible covert cognitive abilities of a patient…
Ethical Aspects
9 Ethical Aspects Giuliano Dolce and Leon Sazbon Care for patients in the vegetative state involves particular aspects that also affect those professionals dealing with patients who have an “uninhabited…
Minimal Response Syndrome
8 Minimal Response Syndrome Ofer Keren, Jacqueline Resnik What is Minimal Response Syndrome? An increasing number of severely brain-damaged patients survive as a result of improved technology, and face severe…
