title: Functional neuroimaging of personally-relevant stimuli in a paediatric case of impaired awareness.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Functional neuroimaging studies have observed preserved neural activation to personally relevant stimuli in patients within the disorders of consciousness (DOC) spectrum. As the majority of studies have focused on adult DOC patients, little is known about preserved activation in the developing brain of children with impaired consciousness.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of this study is to use fMRI to measure preserved neural activation to personally relevant stimuli (subject's own name and familiar voice) in a paediatric patient who sustained a traumatic brain injury and anoxic-ischaemia following a motor vehicle accident at 18 months of age rendering her probable for minimally conscious state. Contrasts revealed activation in the right middle frontal gyrus when hearing the subject's own name and the anterior supramarginal gyrus when hearing a familiar voice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides preliminary support for fMRI as a method to measure preserved cognitive functioning in paediatric DOC patients.
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital , Madison, WI , USA .
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Nicholas
authors.forename: Donald G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: McLaren
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gawrysiak
authors.forename: Baxter P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Dougherty
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nash
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001364:Awareness; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
keywords: Brain imaging; brain injury; cognition; consciousness; neurology; paediatric; self-referential