Coma and related disorders

Disorders of consciousness represent a major challenge in clinical practice. The last decade of neuroscience research brought new insights about brain function and neural correlates of these pathological states of consciousness. Although behavioural evaluation still remains the gold standard, conscious behaviours are too often missed, leading to unwanted grey zones between conscious and unconscious patients. In order to increase the chances of detecting the signs of consciousness, scientists now focus on the development and validation of neuroimaging and electrophysiological paradigms in noncommunicative patients. Recent insights in this field also raise new questions of medical ethics. Indeed, for conscious patients, legal questions will occur about treatment plans, rehabilitation and communication strategies while for the unconscious patients, end-of-life decisions will take place after the patients’ condition is stated as “permanent” or “irreversible”.