Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24048705›Full record

ReviewCurrent neurology and neuroscience reports2013

Conscious awareness in patients in vegetative states: myth or reality?

Gastone G Celesia

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Current neurology and neuroscience reports, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Responsiveness in DoC and individual variability.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2015
    Article
  4. Multisensory constraints on awareness.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2014
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Gastone G CelesiaLoyola University of Chicago, 3016 Heritage Oak Lane, Oakbrook, IL, 60523, USA, g.celesia@comcast.net.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Do vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) patients experience emotions and have conscious awareness of themselves and their surroundings? Can neuroimaging clarify these questions? Neuroimaging responses to stimuli are classified into four levels: level 0 indicates no response; level 1 indicates responses limited to the primary sensory cortices; level 2 indicates activation of primary sensory cortices and higher-order associative areas; level 3 indicates activation of cortical regions to either mental imagery tasks or high-level language stimuli requiring distinction of ambiguous from unambiguous words. Level 0 or level 1 was noted in 125 of 193 VS patients (65 %) and 46 of 121 MCS patients (38 %), suggesting no evidence of conscious awareness. Level 2 or level 3 was observed in 68 of 193 VS patients (35 %) and 75 of 121 MCS patients (62 %), indicating some cognitive processing. These data may denote the presence of conscious awareness or may simply identify neuronal processing without phenomenological awareness. The pro and cons of these conflicting interpretations are discussed.

Indexed as

AwarenessConsciousnessClinical Trials as TopicElectroencephalographyEvoked PotentialsHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingPersistent Vegetative StatePositron-Emission Tomography

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.