Man in Coma for five years “speaks” using his thoughts
For five years he lay mute and immobile beneath a diagnosis - vegetative state - that all ruled out the possibility of thought, much less recovery. To the outside world, the 29-year old patient from Belgium - who suffered a severe head injury in a road accident in 2003 - appeared unconscious and incapable of communicating. But on Thursday, the man spoke - using only his mind. Scientists are calling it the world’s first “conversation” with a patient in a permanent vegetative state.
They say the breakthrough has enormous implications for the treatment of vegetative patients. With the ability to communicate, patients could request pain relief, or even indicate if they wanted to end their life. Dr Adrian Owen, whose Medical Research Council team in Cambridge, London made the first contact, scanned the patient’s head using a state-of-the-art equipment. They were shocked to find that the man could reply to questions by willfully changing his brain activity.
The man’s brainwaves were monitored using a device called a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan (FMRI) that uses magnetic fields to detect surges of blood flow in the head. For years, pro-euthanasia campaigners have claimed those in a vegetative state deserve the right to die. But the latest findings proves that many may still have active minds. The findings will be published in the New England Journal of Medicine at the end of this month.
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:47 am
but I am looking out about it long time and I can not discover any information, and it is important.
April 4th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
What will the iphone folks think of next?
April 7th, 2010 at 5:12 am
Amazing iPhone again
April 13th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Like the site.