Eyes Open, Brain Shut

666 Words3 Pages
Section 1 (Summary): Steven Laureys wrote “Eyes Open, Brain Shut”, an article about two examples of brain trauma and brain damage. Minimal conscious and permanent vegetative states are the two examples that Laureys dissect in this article. Laureys defined permanent vegetative state (PVS) as if the patient shows no signs of awareness one year after a traumatic brain injury or three months after brain damage from lack of oxygen or other causes, in addition to this information, Laureys also mentioned that PVS chance of recovery is close to zero. Minimal conscious, however, is less severe as PVS, Laureys defined minimal conscious as if the patient start making deliberate, nonreflexive movements but remain unable to express and communicate thoughts and feelings. Laureys also mentioned some of examples of patients diagnosed with both minimal conscious and recovered and another patient diagnosed with permanent vegetative state. This article provides some helpful and encouraging tip of which medical exam should the patient take. Laureys states that MRI does help doctors to predict whether patients will emerge from the vegetative state but MRI could not detect sign of consciousness. Laureys mentioned in his article that EEG (electroencephalogram), which measures the brain’s electrical activity, can reveal a patient’s state of wakefulness because electrical activity slows during nondreaming sleep. EEG can also confirm the clinical diagnosis of the brain death, although is not as reliable for measuring changes in awareness. Laureys wrote that the most promising method for investigating the vegetative state is functional neuroimaging. PET or known as positron-emission tomography can show that the metabolic activity in the brain is measured by its consumption of glucose. It also can decreases in the vegetative state to less than half of normal values. Laureys reported in his
Open Document