Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31904898›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2020

Cortical lesions causing loss of consciousness are anticorrelated with the dorsal brainstem.

Samuel B Snider, Joey Hsu, R Ryan Darby, Danielle Cooke, David Fischer, Alexander L Cohen, Jordan H Grafman, Michael D Fox

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Observational
  5. Review
  6. Reflections on Consciousness in Intensive Care.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026
    Review
  7. Observational
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Localization of stuttering based on causal brain lesions.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024
    Article
  14. Review
  15. Neuroimaging in Disorders of Consciousness and Recovery.Physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North America · 2024
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. The Current of Consciousness: Neural Correlates and Clinical Aspects.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2023
    Review
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

8 authors.

Samuel B SniderDepartments of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.ORCID 0000-0002-6965-7890
Joey HsuBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
R Ryan DarbyDepartment of Neurology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Danielle CookeBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
David FischerDepartments of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Alexander L CohenBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
Jordan H GrafmanRehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Michael D FoxBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.

Funding

Using human brain connectivity to identify the causal neuroanatomical substrate of depression symptomsR01MH113929 · NIMH · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI MICHAEL D FOX · 2017 to 2026
$6.9M
Use of Resting-State Networks to Predict the Ideal Site for Brain StimulationK23NS083741 · NINDS · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI FOX, MICHAEL D · 2013 to 2017
$980k
NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH113929NINDS NIH HHS K23 NS083741
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Brain lesions can provide unique insight into the neuroanatomical substrate of human consciousness. For example, brainstem lesions causing coma map to a specific region of the tegmentum. Whether specific lesion locations outside the brainstem are associated with loss of consciousness (LOC) remains unclear. Here, we investigate the topography of cortical lesions causing prolonged LOC (N = 16), transient LOC (N = 91), or no LOC (N = 64). Using standard voxel lesion symptom mapping, no focus of brain damage was associated with LOC. Next, we computed the network of brain regions functionally connected to each lesion location using a large normative connectome dataset (N = 1,000). This technique, termed lesion network mapping, can test whether lesions causing LOC map to a connected brain circuit rather than one brain region. Connectivity between cortical lesion locations and an a priori coma-specific region of brainstem tegmentum was an independent predictor of LOC (B = 1.2, p = .004). Connectivity to the dorsal brainstem was the only predictor of LOC in a whole-brain voxel-wise analysis. This relationship was driven by anticorrelation (negative correlation) between lesion locations and the dorsal brainstem. The map of regions anticorrelated to the dorsal brainstem thus defines a distributed brain circuit that, when damaged, is most likely to cause LOC. This circuit showed a slight posterior predominance and had peaks in the bilateral claustrum. Our results suggest that cortical lesions causing LOC map to a connected brain circuit, linking cortical lesions that disrupt consciousness to brainstem sites that maintain arousal.

Indexed as

AdultAgedBrain MappingBrain StemCerebral CortexClaustrumComaConnectomeHead Injuries, PenetratingHumansLongitudinal StudiesMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedNerve NetPredictive Value of Testsbrainstemcomafunctional connectivityreticular activating systemtraumatic brain injury

Identifiers

PMID31904898
PMCPMC7268053

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.