ArticleNature communications2025
A human brain network linked to restoration of consciousness after deep brain stimulation.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 14 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Deep Brain Stimulation for Disorders of Consciousness: From Mesocircuit Mechanisms to Circuit-Guided Precision Neuromodulation.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Sleep circuit modulation: from animal models to human translation.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Early High-Frequency Network Reorganization After Spinal Cord Stimulation Is Linked to Long-Term Recovery in Disorders of Consciousness.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Advances in local field potential research in prolonged disorders of consciousness: a narrative review.Chinese neurosurgical journal · 2026Review
- Temporal Interference Stimulation of Centromedian-Parafascicular Complex in Disorders of Consciousness: A Pilot Study.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2026Article
- Supratentorial Brain Lesions in Unconscious Patients Map to a Common Human Brain Circuit.Annals of neurology · 2026Observational
- Reflections on Consciousness in Intensive Care.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026Review
- Proceedings of the 13th annual deep brain stimulation think tank: the evolving landscape.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Deep brain stimulation and spinal cord stimulation for chronic disorders of consciousness: a decade of clinical evidence, mechanistic insights, and critical appraisal.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Transcranial temporal interference stimulation of the thalamus in a patient with disorders of consciousness: a case report.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- 40 Years of diffusion MRI in the brain: From history to emerging frontiers.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Review
- Disrupted hierarchical organization in disorders of consciousness revealed by fluctuation-dissipation deviations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Integrating qualitative and quantitative MRI analysis for optimizing DBS candidate selection in patients with disorders of consciousness.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Brain Implants in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.Missouri medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
- Update of
Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Disorders of consciousness are characterized by severe impairments in arousal and awareness. Deep brain stimulation is a potential treatment, but outcomes vary-possibly due to differences in patient characteristics, electrode placement, or the specific brain network engaged. We describe 40 patients with disorders of consciousness undergoing deep brain stimulation targeting the thalamic centromedian-parafascicular complex. Improvements in consciousness are associated with better-preserved gray matter, particularly in the striatum. Electric field modeling reveals that stimulation is most effective when it extends below the centromedian nucleus, engaging the inferior parafascicular nucleus and the adjacent ventral tegmental tract-a pathway that connects the brainstem and hypothalamus and runs along the midbrain-thalamus border. External validation analyzed show that effective stimulation engages a brain network overlapping with disrupted patterns of brain activity observed in two independent cohorts with impaired consciousness: one with arousal-impairing stroke lesions and the other with awareness-impairing seizures. Together, these findings advance the field by informing patient selection, refining stimulation targets, and identifying a brain network linked to recovery that may have broader therapeutic relevance across consciousness-impairing conditions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.