Slowly but surely we are learning to apply MRI data to query thepatient. It can become effective and needs to be. Certainly we haveplenty of cooperative patients here.
Using memory chains may turn out useful here. In that case a stringof objects are clearly visualized and memorized. Then other data isassociated with the string to establish data communication flow. Ithink this could be made to work.
These people are in prisons and lack sensory stimulation. It shouldbe easy to fix that. Right now they are simply trying to ask acouple of questions.
Breakthrough letsCanadian man in vegetative state communicate with doctors
By Linda Nguyen, TheCanadian Press November 13, 2012
Read more:http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Breakthrough+lets+Canadian+vegetative+state+communicate+with/7540940/story.html#ixzz2CAUFAKZ9
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Breakthrough+lets+Canadian+vegetative+state+communicate+with/7540940/story.html
TORONTO - For morethan a decade, Scott Routley has been living in a vegetative state.He can't talk. Hecan't move. And although his eyes are open, no one is sure whether hecan see.
But now, for the firsttime, doctors caring for the 39-year-old London, Ont., man say theyknow he's not in pain.
And they learned itfrom Routley himself, by analyzing his brain waves when they askedhim.
"This was alandmark moment for us because for the first time, a patient canactually tell us information, important information about how they'refeeling and their current situation," said lead researcher Dr.Adrian Owen on Tuesday.
The medicalbreakthrough, believed to be the only time a severely brain injuredpatient has been able to relay clinically relevant information totheir doctors, is being touted as a new way to possibly improve theirquality of care.
Owen, who is the headof the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario,says research published online last year in The Lancet shows thatone in five of these patients are conscious, but essentially trappedin their bodies because they're unable to communicate verbally orphysically.
His team has beenworking for the past year trying to determine whether Routley, whobecame vegetative following a car crash 12 years ago, had any"residual brain activity" and how much he was able tounderstand them.
Last June, the doctorsemployed a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fMRI) tosee if they would be able to analyze his brain patterns.
They told Routley thatthey wanted him to imagine that he was playing tennis if he wasn't inpain or imagine that he was walking around his house if he was inpain.
The thought processinvolved in playing a complex sport like tennis triggers the part ofthe brain that controls motor skills, while thinking about walkingaround your house triggers visual associations — contained in aseparate area of the brain.
With the fMRI, doctorswere able to measure the activity in Routley's brain and conclude hewas trying to tell them he was free of pain.
Owen says for now,this technology is effective in determining responses to simple yesor no questions but may eventually pave the way for vegetativepatients to communicate on a regular basis using a computer-assistedinterface.
"We can use thistype of technology to ask them what sort of entertainment they wantto be exposed to? Do they want to watch TV or do they want to listento music? What type of music? What time would they like to be fed...activities of daily living which are entirely under the control ofthese people around them, the people caring for them," he said.
"We can now askthe patients about these things and give them a role in the decisionmaking that governs their life."
Neurologist Dr. BryanYoung says Routley's family has always been "convinced"that he was awake and aware in his state.
He says thistechnology has the potential to become an instrumental tool for themedical community to assess whether a vegetative patient wants tolive or die.
But Young warned thatit would only be helpful if there was a reliable test available todetermine if the patient was psychologically sound, and able to makeand convey their wishes.
"One has toestablish, though, that apart from these simple responses to thesesimple commands, they are able to think in a deeper and more profoundway about their quality of life and their wishes and goals and whatthey would prefer," he said.
Routley, who iscurrently living at the Parkwood Hospital in London, is among severalvegetative Canadian and British patients featured in a documentaryairing Tuesday on the BBC.
Read more:http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Breakthrough+lets+Canadian+vegetative+state+communicate+with/7540940/story.html#ixzz2CATwoGSx
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