Authors: Chennu S; Annen J; Wannez S; Chatelle C; Cassol H; Martens G; Schnakers C; Gosseries O; Menon D; Laureys S. — Recent advances in functional neuroimaging have demonstrated novel potential for informing diagnosis and prognosis in the unresponsive wakeful syndrome and minimally conscious states. However, these technologies come with considerable expense and difficulty, limiting […]

Authors: Angelique Van Ombergen; Floris L. Wuyts; Ben Jeurissen; Jan Sijbers; Floris Vanhevel; Steven Jillings; Paul M. Parizel; Stefan Sunaert; Paul H. Van de Heyning; Vincent Dousset; Steven Laureys; Athena Demertzi. — Spaceflight severely impacts the human body. However, little is known about how gravity and gravitational alterations affect the human brain. Here, we aimed […]

Authors: Sarah Wannez; Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse; Steven Laureys; Serge Brédart. — Objective: Visual pursuit should be tested with a mirror in patients with disorders of consciousness. This stimulus was indeed more efficient than a person or an object, and the auto-referential aspect was supposed to be the key feature. The present study tested the hypothesis that […]

Authors: Zulay Lugo; Fréderic Pellas; Veronique Blandin; Steven Laureys; Olivia Gosseries. — Objective. Family needs of patients with acquired brain injuries have been studied for about three decades. In this study, we assessed the needs, the quality of life and the psychological state of relatives of patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS). Design: A survey was […]

Authors: Van Ombergen A; Demertzi A; Tomilovskaya E; Jeurissen B; Sijbers J; Kozlovskaya I; Parizel P; Van de Heyning P; Sunaert S; Laureys S; Wuyts F. — Microgravity, confinement, isolation, and immobilization are just some of the features astronauts have to cope with during space missions. Consequently, long-duration space travel can have detrimental effects on […]

Authors: Martens G; Laureys S; Thibaut A. — Background: Spasticity is a motor disorder frequently encountered after a lesion involving the central nervous system. It is hypothesized to arise from an anarchic reorganization of the pyramidal and parapyramidal fibers and leads to hypertonia and hyperreflexia of the affected muscular groups. While this symptom and its […]

Authors: Caveliere C; Aiello M; Di Perri C; Amico E; Martial C; Thibaut A; Laureys S; Soddu A. — Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique recently employed in disorders of consciousness, and determining a transitory recovery of signs of consciousness in almost half of minimally conscious state (MCS) patients. Although the rising […]

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 […]