Authors: Helena Cassol; Benoıt Petre; Sophie Degrange; Charlotte Martial; Vanessa Charland-Verville; Francois Lallier; Isabelle Bragard; Michèle Guillaume; Steven Laureys. — Near-death experiences (NDEs) refer to profound psychological events that can have an important impact on the experiencers’ (NDErs) lives. Previous studies have shown that NDEs memories are phenomenologically rich. In the present study, we therefore […]

Authors: Bodart O; Amico E; Gomes F; Casali A; Wannez S; Heine L; Thibaut A; Annen J; Boly M; Casarotto S; Rosanova M; Massimini M; Laureys S; Gosseries O. — BACKGROUND: Previous studies have separately reported impaired functional, structural, and effective connectivity in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). The perturbational complexity index (PCI) is […]

Authors: Bodart O; Gosseries O; Wannez S; Thibaut A; Annen J; Boly M; Rossanova M; Casali A; Casarotto S; Tononi G; Massimini M; Laureys S. — Background Making an accurate diagnosis in patients with disorders of consciousness remains challenging. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)–PET has been validated as a diagnostic tool in this population, and allows identifying unresponsive […]

Authors: Yavari F; Nitsche M; Ekhtiari H. — During recent years, non-invasive brain stimulation, including transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) in general, and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in particular, have created new hopes for treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Despite promising primary results in some brain disorders, a more widespread application of tES is […]

Authors: Thibaut A; Chatelle C; Vanhaudenhuyse A; Martens G; Cassol H; Martial C; Carrière M; Barra A; Laureys S; Gosseries O. — Thanks to modern neuroimaging techniques it appears that 30% of clinically unresponsive patients (i.e., unresponsive wakefulness syndrome – UWS) retain cerebral functions that are similar to patients in a minimally conscious state – […]

Authors: Wannez S; Hoyoux T; Langohr T; Bodart O; Martial C; Wertz J; Chatelle C; Verly JG; Laureys S. — Visual pursuit is a key marker of residual consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Currently, its assessment relies on subjective clinical decisions. In this study, we explore the variability of such clinical assessments, […]

Authors: Wannez S; Heine L; Thonnard M; Gosseries O; Laureys S; Coma Science Group collaborators. — OBJECTIVE: To determine whether repeated examinations using the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) have an impact on diagnostic accuracy of patients with disorders of consciousness and to provide guidelines regarding the number of assessments required for obtaining a reliable diagnosis. […]

Authors: Wannez S; Gosseries O; Azzolini D; Martial C; Cassol H; Aubinet C; Annen J; Martens G; Bodart O; Heine L; Charland-Verville V; Thibaut A; Chatelle C; Vanhaudenhuyse A; Demertzi A; Schnakers C; Donneau AF; Laureys S. — Different behavioural signs of consciousness can distinguish patients with an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome from patients in minimally […]

Authors: Huang W; Wannez S; Fregni F; Hu X; Jing S; Martens G; He M; Di H; Laureys S; Thibaut A. — Highlights •tDCS is a simple and safe technique that has shown promising results in MCS patients. •tDCS applied over the posterior parietal cortex improved signs of consciousness in 27% of the stimulated patients. […]

Authors: Sleigh J; Warnaby C; Tracey I. Selfhood is linked to brain processes that enable the experience of a person as a distinct entity, capable of agency. This framework naturally incorporates a continuum of both non-conscious and conscious self-related information processing, and includes a hierarchy of components, such as awareness of existence (core self), embodied […]