title: Clinical assessment of patients with disorders of consciousness.
abstract: The study of pathological impairments of consciousness, as they can appear in severely brain injured patients, can be particularly useful to better clarify cognitive processes and cerebral substrates which underlie consciousness. In this review, we will introduce the disorders of consciousness that can be presented by severely brain-injured patients and the behavioural scales that can be used to assess their level of consciousness. We will also discuss the difficulty to assess and detect remnant cognitive functioning in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liege, Belgium. c.schnakers@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schnakers
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003244:Consciousness Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D012720:Severity of Illness Index