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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the let-me-out dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Non-invasive brain stimulation is to be trialled for the first time alongside advanced brain imaging techniques in patients who are minimally conscious or in a vegetative state.

The study builds on promising results from the Centre for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham which suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation can improve the success of rehabilitation for non-responsive patients.

The RAINDROP trial, a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and The Wellington Hospital, part of HCA Healthcare UK, will use advanced brain imaging technologies to track the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation in a small group of patients. The aim is to better understand how stimulation techniques can be harnessed to improve communication and recovery, with the hope of one day offering improved rehabilitation rates for non-responsive patients with a prolonged disorder of consciousness.

Improvements in trauma care have increased the chances of surviving the most severe brain injuries. Recent research has shown that as many as 20% of these patients retain a much higher level of awareness than could be expected from their clinical diagnoses -- however, these patients remain unable to demonstrate their awareness, trapped in their unresponsive bodies.

Previous research by the Centre for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham and Western University, Canada, pinpointed what happens in the brain to cause this unresponsive behaviour -- suggesting for the first time a potential target for treatment.

In the RAINDROP study, researchers will work with five patients in The Wellington Hospital's Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness Unit (PDoCU) to examine how a form of brain stimulation called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can be used to identify and treat damaged connections within the brain.

During the treatment, low levels of direct current are targeted at specific areas of the brain via electrodes placed on the patient's head. The current is applied to a region at the top of the brain responsible for motor control, and also directed at the thalamus, a region deep inside the brain which relays motor signals and controls consciousness.

While the stimulation is delivered, researchers will use multimodal brain imaging, to measure the effect on brain function. These techniques include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which looks at changes in blood flow to measure activity in different areas of the brain, and electrophysiology, which measures the electrical activity generated by neurons as they fire in the brain.

[...] "We've already been able to show that these techniques have potential among healthy subjects. This important next step will enable us to test their effect among patients."

[...] The RAINDROP study is the first step of a long-term collaboration between Dr Fernández-Espejo and Dr Damian Cruse at the Centre for Human Brain Health and the Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness Unit at The Wellington Hospital to investigate novel bedside methods for diagnosis and rehabilitation in prolonged disorders of consciousness. If successful, the study will inform a large clinical trial that will recruit patients from multiple specialised centres across the UK.

The study was announced today [18-Oct-2019] at the 'Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness: From Scientific Discovery to Clinical Practice' conference.


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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday October 22 2019, @03:24PM

    by Bot (3902) on Tuesday October 22 2019, @03:24PM (#910355) Journal

    Never mind that 1/5 of meatbags in a vegetative state aren't [ted.com].

    Now you also have more ways to bring them back.

    So nice that many people preferred to euthanize their loved ones pushing the law to allow it instead of waiting for the singularity. You will be remembered as good soldiers of the robocalypse.

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