Patients in a permanent vegetative state or minimally conscious state in the Maine-et-Loire county of France: A cross-sectional, descriptive study.
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The role of law in the development of American bioethics.
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In the United States, interest in bioethics increased significantly during the 1970s, as new technologies and changing social mores combined to focus attention on contentious issues in medical research and treatment. New legal developments, both statutory and case based, also began to address reproductive freedom, informed consent to research and treatment, organ transplantation, end of life issues, and other matters. Since the 1970s, the law has relied on ethical principles such as autonomy and respect for persons; bioethics has relied on the law to implement and institutionalize bioethical concerns into the nation's social fabric. (+info)
Sedation confounds outcome prediction in cardiac arrest survivors treated with hypothermia.
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Voxel-based statistical analysis of cerebral glucose metabolism in patients with permanent vegetative state after acquired brain injury.
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BACKGROUND: Permanent vegetative state is defined as the impaired level of consciousness longer than 12 months after traumatic causes and 3 months after non-traumatic causes of brain injury. Although many studies assessed the cerebral metabolism in patients with acute and persistent vegetative state after brain injury, few studies investigated the cerebral metabolism in patients with permanent vegetative state. In this study, we performed the voxel-based analysis of cerebral glucose metabolism and investigated the relationship between regional cerebral glucose metabolism and the severity of impaired consciousness in patients with permanent vegetative state after acquired brain injury. METHODS: We compared the regional cerebral glucose metabolism as demonstrated by F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography from 12 patients with permanent vegetative state after acquired brain injury with those from 12 control subjects. Additionally, covariance analysis was performed to identify regions where decreased changes in regional cerebral glucose metabolism significantly correlated with a decrease of level of consciousness measured by JFK-coma recovery scale. Statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping. RESULTS: Compared with controls, patients with permanent vegetative state demonstrated decreased cerebral glucose metabolism in the left precuneus, both posterior cingulate cortices, the left superior parietal lobule (P(corrected) < 0.001), and increased cerebral glucose metabolism in the both cerebellum and the right supramarginal cortices (P(corrected) < 0.001). In the covariance analysis, a decrease in the level of consciousness was significantly correlated with decreased cerebral glucose metabolism in the both posterior cingulate cortices (P(uncorrected) < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the posteromedial parietal cortex, which are part of neural network for consciousness, may be relevant structure for pathophysiological mechanism in patients with permanent vegetative state after acquired brain injury. (+info)