Severe brain injuries can result in long term unresponsiveness in patients, often referred to as being in a coma or vegetative state. Doctors have long wondered whether or not those patients had any level of consciousness and now they might finally have the answer.
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00:00Severe brain injuries can result in long-term unresponsiveness in patients, often referred
00:08to as being in a coma or vegetative state.
00:11Doctors have long wondered whether or not these patients had any level of consciousness
00:15and now they might finally have the answer.
00:17The researchers used fMRI and electroencephalography brain scans and asked unresponsive patients
00:22to quote, imagine opening and closing your hand.
00:26They found signs of hidden consciousness in the form of brain activity which is associated
00:30with that same task in conscious individuals.
00:32They found this hidden consciousness in 60 out of the 241 patients they tested or around
00:3825% of them.
00:39The researchers say these findings raise critical, ethical, clinical and scientific questions
00:44explaining that it could help doctors develop new techniques to harness this unseen cognitive
00:49capacity, ultimately establishing a system of communication with unresponsive patients.
00:54They add this could help them discover new techniques of not only improving the lives
00:57of those who are comatose for long periods, but perhaps even new treatments for them.
01:01Jen Klassen, a neurologist from the Columbia University Irving Medical Center said about
01:06the findings, we have an obligation to try to reach out to these patients and build communication
01:10bridges with them.