Decannulation After a Severe Acquired Brain Injury.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the effect of some clinical characteristics of severe acquired brain injury (sABI) patients on decannulation success during their intensive rehabilitation unit (IRU) stay. DESIGN: Nonconcurrent cohort study. SETTING: Don Gnocchi Foundation Institute. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (N=351) with sABI and tracheostomy were retrospectively selected from the database of the IRU of the Don Gnocchi Foundation Institute. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Potential predictors of decannulation were screened from variables collected at admission during clinical examination, conducted by trained and experienced examiners. The association between clinical characteristics and decannulation status was investigated through a Cox regression model. Kaplan-Meier curves were then created for time-event analysis. RESULTS: Among the patients (mean age, 64.1±15.5y), 54.1% were decannulated during their IRU stay. Absence of pulmonary infections (P<.001), sepsis (P=.001), tracheal alteration at the fibrobronchoscopy examination (P=.004) and a higher Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) score (P<.001) or a better state of consciousness at admission (P=.001) were associated with a higher probability of decannulation. CONCLUSIONS: Fibrobronchoscopy assessment of patency of airways and accurate evaluation of the state of consciousness using the CRS-R are relevant in this setting of care to better identify patients who are more likely to have the tracheostomy tube removed. These results may help clinicians choose the appropriate timing and intensity of rehabilitation interventions and plan for discharge.

Ethical, Palliative, and Policy Considerations in Disorders of Consciousness.

This essay complements the scientific and practice scope of the American Academy of Neurology Guideline on Disorders of Consciousness by providing a discussion of the ethical, palliative, and policy aspects of the management of this group of patients. We endorse the renaming of "permanent" vegetative state to "chronic" vegetative state given the increased frequency of reports of late improvements but suggest that further refinement of this class of patients is necessary to distinguish late recoveries from patients who were misdiagnosed or in cognitive-motor dissociation. Additional nosologic clarity and prognostic refinement is necessary to preclude overestimation of low probability events. We argue that the new descriptor "unaware wakefulness syndrome" is no clearer than "vegetative state" in expressing the mismatch between apparent behavioral unawareness when patients have covert consciousness or cognitive motor dissociation. We advocate routine universal pain precautions as an important element of neuropalliative care for these patients given the risk of covert consciousness. In medical decision-making, we endorse the use of advance directives and the importance of clear and understandable communication with surrogates. We show the value of incorporating a learning health care system so as to promote therapeutic innovation. We support the Guideline's high standard for rehabilitation for these patients but note that those systems of care are neither widely available nor affordable. Finally, we applaud the Guideline authors for this outstanding exemplar of engaged scholarship in the service of a frequently neglected group of brain-injured patients.

How many patients in a prolonged disorder of consciousness might need a best interests meeting about starting or continuing gastrostomy feeding?

OBJECTIVE:: To estimate the number of people in a prolonged disorder of consciousness (PDOC) who may need a formal best interests decision-making process to consider starting and/or continuing life-sustaining treatment each year in the population of a developed country. METHOD:: Identification of studies on people with a PDOC giving information about incidence, and/or prevalence, and/or cause, and/or location of long-term care. Sources included systematic reviews, a new search of MEDLINE (April 2018), and a personal collection of papers. Validating information was sought from existing data on services. RESULTS:: There are few epidemiologically sound studies, most having bias and/or missing information. The best estimate of incidence of PDOC due to acute onset disease is 2.6/100,000/year; the best estimate of prevalence is between 2.0 and 5.0/100,000. There is evidence that prevalence in the Netherlands is about 10% of that in other countries. The commonest documented causes are cerebral hypoxia, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and tumours. There is some evidence suggesting that dementia is a common cause, but PDOC due to progressive disorders has not been studied systematically. Most people receive long-term care in nursing homes, but a significant proportion (10%-15%) may be cared for at home. CONCLUSION:: Each year, about 5/100,000 people will enter a prolonged state of unconsciousness from acute onset and progressive brain damage; and at any one time, there may be 5/100,000 people in that state. However, the evidence is very limited in quality and quantity. The numbers may be greater.

Advances in the neurorehabilitation of severe disorder of consciousness.

INTRODUCTION: The paper describes the evolution of knowledge concerning severe brain injury which determines the Vegetative State/Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome. BACKGROUND: The term Vegetative State was proposed by Jennet and Plum in 1972. Later on, the Intensive Care Units progresses increased the survival of these patients and, contemporary, decreased their characteristic conditions of cachexia and severe dystonia. In 1994, the disease was conceived as a disconnection syndrome of the hemispheres from the brainstem, mainly due to a temporary or permanent deficit of the functions of the white matter. From 2005 on, the psychophysiological parameters relative to an emotional consciousness, albeit submerged, were described. Since then, it has been recognized that the brain of these patients was not only to be considered living but also working. CONCLUSION: The latest studies that have greatly improved the knowledge of the physiopathology of this particular state of consciousness. These new insights have led to the formation of a European Union Task Force, which has proposed in 2009 to change the name from a Vegetative State to Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome, outlining the character of syndrome and not that of state, as forms of even late recovery in consciousness levels have been observed and described.

Effectiveness of the "Elevated Position" Nursing Care Program in promoting the reconditioning of patients with acute cerebrovascular disease.

AIM: Over 34,000 Japanese patients suffer from a persistent disturbance of consciousness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the "Elevated Position" Nursing Care Program (EPNCP) in promoting the reconditioning of patients with acute cerebrovascular disease (ACD). The primary assumption of this study was that they could experience the reconditioning process and would reach a reconditioned state through their involvement in the EPNCP, thus improving their level of consciousness and quality of life. METHOD: A historical controlled trial study, based on an intention-to-treat analysis of hospitalized patients with ACD who became participants the day after starting medical or surgical treatment, was used. Trained nurses implemented the EPNCP from May to September 2005 for an experimental group of 45 participants. The data on two independent control groups of 92 and 40 patients with ACD were gathered from historical medical records. The six measures were: Japan Coma Scale; Level of Cognitive Functioning Assessment Scale; number of days from the intervention to sitting in a wheelchair; number of participants who left the intensive care unit (ICU) by wheelchair; Barthel Index; and modified Rankin Scale. RESULTS: Significant differences were found regarding the number of participants who left the ICU by wheelchair, length of time from the EPNCP's commencement to the wheelchair-sitting position, and the Barthel Index 1 week after leaving the ICU. CONCLUSION: The EPNCP was safe for the reconditioning of patients with ACD and somewhat effective in improving their physical function. A comprehensive nursing care program now exists for elevating patients with cerebrovascular disease during the early phase following the onset of symptoms or immediately after surgery. Further research should be conducted, extending the duration of the intervention program and the length of the measurement period, followed by a careful analysis of the results.

Ethical issues in the treatment of severe brain injury: the impact of new technologies.

Technological developments in functional neuroimaging have important ethical implications for the care of brain-injured patients. Patterns of fMRI and PET responses to stimuli may help clarify if a patient is utterly unaware, and thereby enhance a physician's confidence in reaching an accurate diagnosis of vegetative state or minimally conscious state. The analysis of similar responses may enhance a physician's confidence in pronouncing an accurate prognosis for functional recovery and help avoid committing the fallacy of the self-fulfilling prophesy. Surrogate decision making is necessary to secure consent for treatment decision in brain-injured patients and should attempt to reproduce the treatment decision the patient would have made. Physicians should manage irreducible clinical uncertainty by sharing their level of certainty of diagnosis and prognosis with the surrogate decision-maker. Shared decision making between the physician and surrogate is the current formulation of the doctrine of informed consent. Advance care planning can help inform surrogate decision making, but is available less commonly among young, previously healthy brain-injured patients. Functional neuroimaging technologies also impact on ethical issues of treatment, rehabilitation, and palliation. Families of brain-injured patients should be compassionately counseled that, despite provocative and highly publicized case reports, these technologies, while promising, are currently investigational and have not been sufficiently validated yet to be available for routine clinical use.

Estimulação multissensorial em pacientes comatosos: uma revisão da literatura / Estímulo multi-sensorial en pacientes comatosos: encuesta sobre la literatura / Multisensorial stimulation in comatose patients: a literature survey

O estado de coma é uma situação que se caracteriza pelo extremo rebaixamento do nível de consciência, em que o indivíduo permanece com os olhos fechados, sem percepção alguma do meio externo, incapaz de se comunicar, responder a comandos e emitir comportamentos elaborados. O nível de consciência, ou seja, o estado de alerta comportamental que nos mantém despertos, depende do Sistema Ativador Reticular Ascendente (SARA), que é localizado na região pontomesencefálica do tronco encefálico. O coma pode ser gerado por diversas etiologias, causando prejuízos na ação de ativação cortical desempenhada pelo Sistema Ativador Reticular Ascendente. Com intuito de facilitar a recuperação do estado de coma, foram criados programas de estimulação multissensorial, visando a estimular o Sistema Ativador Reticular Ascendente e, assim, auxiliar na recuperação do nível de consciência de pacientes comatosos. Desta forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar o que a literatura mostra sobre a influência da estimulação multissensorial sobre o nível de consciência de pacientes em estado de coma. Foi realizada uma revisão de literatura nas bases de dados eletrônicos Medline, Cochrane, Scielo e Lilacs, nos sites de pesquisas Pubmed e Highwire. Foram selecionados artigos científicos de 1983 a 2007. Os descritores utilizados foram: coma, estimulação sensorial, percepção e reabilitação. Foram incluídos ensaios clínicos enfocando a estimulação multissensorial em pacientes comatosos, e foram excluídos artigos que estudaram outras formas de tratamento realizadas em pacientes em coma que não objetivaram o aumento do nível de consciência. Foram analisados vinte artigos científicos que apresentaram resultados controversos em relação ao tipo de estimulação, tempo de duração da terapia e resultados alcançados após a aplicação do programa de estimulação multissensorial em comatosos. Apesar de indícios clínicos apontarem melhora no nível de consciência com a utilização da...

A coma is a situation of extreme degradation of the level of consciousness where the individual remains with closed eyes, with no perception of the external world, incapable of communicating, answering to commands and having elaborated behaviors. The level of consciousness, that is, the alert state that keeps us awaken, depends on Ascendant Reticular Activating System, which is located at the core of the brainstem between the myelencephalon and the mesencephalon.Coma may be generated by several etiologies, causing damages in ARAS’s cortical activation. With the intention of facilitating the recovery from coma, programs of multisensorial stimulation (MS) were created aiming to stimulate ARAS and thus to assist in the recovery of the level of conscience of comatose patients. In view of this, the objective of this work was to analyze what the literature shows about the influence of multisensorial stimulation on the level of consciousness of coma patients. We did a literature survey in the electronic databases Medline, Cochrane, Scielo and Lilacs and in Pubmed and Highwire search sites. Articles selected cover the period 1983- 2007. Keywords used were: coma, sensorial stimulation, perception and rehabilitation. We included clinical assays focusing in MS for comatose patients, and excluded articles that had studied other forms of treatment in comatose patients that did not aimed at increasing the level of consciousness. Twenty scientific articles were analyzed that presented controversial results regarding the type of stimulation, time of duration of the therapy and results reached after the application of the multisensorial stimulation program in comatose patients. Although clinical indications pointed to improvements in the level of consciousness with the use of multisensorial stimulation, there is no scientific evidence of its effectiveness. No randomized clinical assay was located that really established the improvement of the level of...

El coma es una situación de la degradación extrema del nivel de conciencia (NC) donde el individuo permanece con los ojos cerrados, sin ninguna percepción del mundo externo, incapaz de comunicarse, contestar a los comandos ni de tener comportamientos elaborados. El nivel de conciencia, es decir, el estado de alerta que nos mantiene despiertos, depende del Sistema Activador Reticular Ascendente (SARA), que está situado en la base del tronco cerebral entre la parte trasera del cerebro y el mesencéfalo. El coma se puede generar por varias etiologías, causando daños en la activación cortical de ARAS. Con la intención de facilitar la recuperación del coma, se crearan programas de estímulo multi-sensorial (EM) para estimular el Sistema Activador Reticular Ascendente y asistir así a la recuperación del nivel de conciencia de pacientes comatosos. En vista de esto, el objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar qué la literatura muestra acerca de la influencia del EM en el nivel de conciencia de pacientes comatosos. Hicimos una encuesta sobre la literatura en las bases de datos electrónicas Medline, Cochrane, Scielo y Lilacs y en los sitios de búsqueda de Pubmed y de Highwire. Los artículos seleccionados cubren el período 1983- 2007. Las palabras claves usadas fueran: coma, estímulo sensorio, percepción y rehabilitación. Incluimos los análisis clínicos que se enfocaban en el estímulo multi-sensorial para pacientes comatosos, y excluimos los artículos que estudiaran otras formas de tratamiento en los pacientes comatosos que no tienen como objetivo aumentar el nivel de conciencia. Veinte artículos científicos fueran analizados porque presentaron resultados polémicos respecto al tipo de estímulo, la época de duración de la terapia y los resultados alcanzados después del uso del programa del estímulo multi-sensorial en pacientes comatosos. Aunque las indicaciones clínicas señalaron mejoras en el nivel de conciencia con el uso del estímulo multi-sensorial, no hay...

Carotid artery injuries caused by blunt trauma.

Carotid artery injuries caused by blunt trauma often cause thrombosis and delayed neurologic deficits, and are associated with mortality rates of up to 40%. In this series of 17 patients with blunt trauma of the carotid, three had no symptoms, ten patients had limb paresis and four had severe neuroligic deficits. The wounds were identified by arteriography; repair was attempted in 15 patients, and successful in eight. All eight patients with successful repair were improved or normal after surgery, but only two out of nine patients without repair improved, and four died. The mortality rate for the series was 23%, but only 14% in the patients who had carotid surgery. This experience suggests that repair is safe and effective in patients with carotid injuries in whom prograde flow continues and only mild neurologic deficits are present. In contrast, patients with complete occlusion, severe neurologic problems, and altered consciousness are not likely to be helped by attempts at revascularization.