Objective: To assess somatosensory discrimination and command following using a vibrotactile P300-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) in Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), and investigate the predictive role of this cognitive process on the clinical outcomes.Methods: Thirteen UWS patients and six healthy controls each participated in two experimental runs in which they were instructed to count vibrotactile stimuli delivered to the left or right wrist. A BCI determined each subject's task performance based on EEG measures. All of the patients were followed up six months after the BCI assessment, and correlations analysis between accuracy rates and clinical outcome were investigated.Results: Four UWS patients demonstrated clear EEG-based indices of task following in one or both paradigms, which did not correlate with clinical factors. The efficacy of somatosensory discrimination strongly correlated (VT2: R = 0.89, p = 0.0000002, VT3: R = 0.81, p = 0.002) with the clinical outcome at 6-months. The BCI system also yielded the expected results with healthy controls.Conclusions: Neurophysiological correlates of somatosensory discrimination can be detected in clinically unresponsive patients and are associated with recovery of behavioural responsiveness at six months.Significance: Quantitative measurements of somatosensory discrimination may increase the diagnostic accuracy of persons with DOCs and provide useful prognostic information. (C) 2018 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preserved somatosensory discrimination predicts consciousness recovery in unresponsive wakefulness syndrome

Gregoretti, Cesare;
2018-01-01

Abstract

Objective: To assess somatosensory discrimination and command following using a vibrotactile P300-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) in Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), and investigate the predictive role of this cognitive process on the clinical outcomes.Methods: Thirteen UWS patients and six healthy controls each participated in two experimental runs in which they were instructed to count vibrotactile stimuli delivered to the left or right wrist. A BCI determined each subject's task performance based on EEG measures. All of the patients were followed up six months after the BCI assessment, and correlations analysis between accuracy rates and clinical outcome were investigated.Results: Four UWS patients demonstrated clear EEG-based indices of task following in one or both paradigms, which did not correlate with clinical factors. The efficacy of somatosensory discrimination strongly correlated (VT2: R = 0.89, p = 0.0000002, VT3: R = 0.81, p = 0.002) with the clinical outcome at 6-months. The BCI system also yielded the expected results with healthy controls.Conclusions: Neurophysiological correlates of somatosensory discrimination can be detected in clinically unresponsive patients and are associated with recovery of behavioural responsiveness at six months.Significance: Quantitative measurements of somatosensory discrimination may increase the diagnostic accuracy of persons with DOCs and provide useful prognostic information. (C) 2018 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2018
Brain-computer interface
Disorders of consciousness
Minimal consciousness (MCS)
P300
Somatosensory perception
Unresponsive wakefulness state (UWS)
Adult
Aged
Aged
80 and over
Brain
Brain-Computer Interfaces
Consciousness Disorders
Discrimination (Psychology)
Electroencephalography
Event-Related Potentials
P300
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Prognosis
Touch Perception
Wakefulness
Young Adult
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Clin Neurophysiol - 2018.pdf

non disponibili

Licenza: Dominio pubblico
Dimensione 792.98 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
792.98 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14245/7820
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 28
social impact