Opportunities and Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Disorders of Consciousness
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurorehabilitation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 2780
Special Issue Editor
2. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
Interests: EEG; TMS; TMS-EEG; non-invasive brain stimulation; disorders of consciousness
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
With the development of emergency rooms and intensive care units, the mortality rate of patients after severe brain injury has significantly decreased. However, many patients who survive the initial phase of cerebral coma move on to a potentially long-lasting or even permanent disorder of consciousness (DOC) state. DOC is generally caused by injury or dysfunction of the neural systems regulating arousal and awareness. DOC patients show an absence of arousal (i.e., eye opening when stimulated) and awareness (unaware of themselves and the environment). Patients who remain unresponsive to external stimulation or only show simple reflex movements that are uncorrelated with command are diagnosed with vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (VS/UWS). Patients who show fluctuating but definite behavioral evidence of self or environmental awareness are diagnosed as being in a minimally conscious state (MCS).
The large number of DOC patients has brought immense challenges to our healthcare systems. Poor understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of (un)consciousness makes it difficult to carry out the precise assessment, management and treatment of DOC patients. Patients often remain in a tragic situation of “can’t die and can’t be cured” for a long time.
Residual consciousness and brain functions are critical pieces of information that directly affect treatment decisions and management settings. In clinical practice, a behavioral scale (Coma Recovery Scale, CRS-R) is widely used to assess the state of consciousness of patients. However, this method is complicated, time-consuming, labor-intensive and suffers from a high rate of misdiagnosis. Recently, innovative neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques (e.g., fMRI, PET, fNIRS, EEG, ERP and TMS-EEG) have allowed for a more precise and individual assessment of residual brain functions with the promise to facilitate a better diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of DOC patients.
Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial ultrasound (tUS) are painless, safe, inexpensive and adaptable and have, therefore, recently attracted major interest as possible treatment tools for DOC patients.
This Research Topic aims at providing updates on the pathophysiological mechanisms of disorders of consciousness as tested with advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques, and on the neuromodulation strategies for the treatment of DOC patients.
Dr. Yang Bai
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- disorders of consciousness
- unresponsive wakefulness syndrome
- minimally conscious state
- neuromodulation
- neuroimaging, electrophysiology
- neurorehabilitation
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Meta-analysis of the effect of sensory stimulation on awakening in patients with disorders of consciousness
Authors: Ying Zhang
Affiliation: The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310015,China
Title: Analysis of the effect of sensory stimulation on awakening in patients with disorders of consciousness
Authors: Ying Zhang
Affiliation: The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310015,China
Title: Naturalistic stimuli to diagnosing disorder of consciousness
Authors: Tamar Mizrahi; Vadim Axelrod
Affiliation: Bar-Ilan University, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
