Departure from locked-in syndrome

A man who had been in vegetable state for five years answered
the questions using only his thought.

Note) If you dont know the difference between vegitable state
and locked-in syndrome, please check here.

The 29-year-old Belgian was able to respond to simple Yes/No
questions such as “Is your father’s name Alexander?” by
changing his brain activity. British and Belgian researchers then
read his response by checking functional magnetic resonance
imaging known as fMRI scans.

In their research, 54 patients who are diagnosed with vegetable
state joined in the examination for their research. The result is
that 5 patients of them were able to respond to simple Yes/No
questions correctly. This means that at least 5 of them are not in
vegetable state but the state which are higher consciousness like
locked-in syndrome.

The researcher seems to develop their research in order to
introduce their technique to reduce misdiagnosis. I think this
achievement is really useful for their original purpose. Patients
took care as a vegetable state might prove they are not. However,
I also think this is the really big one step to achieve to
communicate with patients in locked-in syndrome. I know it still
have long distance to realize this.

However, there is no doubt the result of this research give
momentum to this research area and lead someone to invent a
device which can interpret thought of patients in locked-in
syndrome into something other people can understand. If it is
realized, many patients will be able to express their thought
more than Yes or No. It is clear that this kind of device will be
flame of hope especially for patient in locked-in syndrome.

During researching this subject, I remember the person who
suffered from muscular dystrophy. His name is Masashi Yoshida.
I saw him on TV last summer. He used to strongly disagree with
dignified death. However, He changed his mind to completely
opposite direction after he had seen that his friend, who was also
a patient suffering from the same disease with him, was
gradually losing his working muscle and heading into a locked-in
syndrome. I think this story is really persuasive how locked-in
syndrome is cruel and isolated for him. When he could not move
any muscle other than his cheek, he asked his family to turn off
his artificial ventilator right after he cannot communicate
with others.

I hope the result of this research will be a milestone to lead
patients in locked-in syndrome to be able to communicate others
with hope again.

reference:
Willful Modulation of Brain Activity in Disorders of Consciousness


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