[Post-traumatic coma and pre-traumatic memory].
Instead of thinking that it is impossible to enter in the internal world of a comatose patient, we are now put before a new and encouraging prospective, that of the possibility, even though minimal, of influencing the vital residual organisation of the patient and to induce him perhaps to accept again external stimulations, which previously were too intense. As loss of conscience often causes loss of memory, our intention was to examine the problem of memory loss in comatose patients after accidents. The analysis of 50 questionnaires distributed to trauma-patients awakening from a comatose state and interviews give clear indications that: 1) the patients remember absolutely nothing during the time of the coma; 2) in the majority of cases (34) the patients remember in the moment preceding the accident a clear autodestructive tendency especially if they were the cause of the accident; and 3) almost all patients (41) agree to have benefited greatly from the trauma itself and from its memory.
Malacrida
R
R
Service des soins intensifs, Hôpital San Giovanni, Bellinzona.
Piazza
J
J
Abraham
G
G
D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology; D003128:Coma / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications
Le coma post-traumatique et la mémoire pré-traumatique.