title: Near-Death Experiences in patients with locked-in syndrome: Not always a blissful journey.
abstract: Memories of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) most often are recounted as emotionally positive events. At present, no satisfactory explanatory model exists to fully account for the rich phenomenology of NDEs following a severe acute brain injury. The particular population of patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) provides a unique opportunity to study NDEs following infratentorial brain lesions. We here retrospectively characterized the content of NDEs in 8 patients with LIS caused by an acute brainstem lesion (i.e., "LIS NDEs") and 23 NDE experiencers after coma with supratentorial lesions (i.e., "classical NDEs"). Compared to "classical NDEs", "LIS NDEs" less frequently experienced a feeling of peacefulness or well-being. It could be hypothesized that NDEs containing less positive emotions might have a specific neuroanatomical substrate related to impaired pontine/paralimbic connectivity or alternatively might be related to the emotional distress caused by the presence of conscious awareness in a paralyzed body.
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, University and University Hospital of Liège, Cyclotron Research Center, GIGA-Research B34, Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: vanessa.charland-verville@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Charland-Verville
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, University and University Hospital of Liège, Cyclotron Research Center, GIGA-Research B34, Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Zulay
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lugo
authors.affiliation: International Association For Near Death Studies, Avenue Flourens Aillaud 28, 04700 Oraison, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Jourdan
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, School of Public Health, University of Liège, Avenue de l'Hôpital 3, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne-Françoise
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Donneau
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, University and University Hospital of Liège, Cyclotron Research Center, GIGA-Research B34, Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: steven.laureys@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laureys
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003128:Coma / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Brainstem lesions; Coma; Emotions; Locked-in syndrome; Memory; Near-Death Experience