title: The Role of Neuroimaging Techniques in Establishing Diagnosis, Prognosis and Therapy in Disorders of Consciousness.
abstract: Non-communicative brain damaged patients raise important clinical and scientific issues. Here, we review three major pathological disorders of consciousness: coma, the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and the minimally conscious state. A number of clinical studies highlight the difficulty in making a correct diagnosis in patients with disorders of consciousness based only on behavioral examinations. The increasing use of neuroimaging techniques allows improving clinical characterization of these patients. Recent neuroimaging studies using positron emission tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation can help assess diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic treatment. These techniques, using resting state, passive and active paradigms, also highlight possible dissociations between consciousness and responsiveness, and are facilitating a more accurate understanding of brain function in this challenging population.
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, GIGA, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium; Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United-States.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gosseries
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, Neurological Institute, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pistoia
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, GIGA, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Charland-Verville
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, Neurological Institute, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carolei
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, Neurological Institute, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.affiliation: Coma Science Group, GIGA, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laureys
keywords: Coma; EEG; PET scan; fMRI; minimally conscious state; neuroimaging; unresponsive wakefulness syndrome