What Do We Actually Know About the Brain in Disorders of Consciousness?
A simplified summary of the research
Mechanisms Underlying Disorders of Consciousness: Bridging Gaps to Move Toward an Integrated Translational Science
Cain, J. A.*, Luppi, A. I., Spindler, L. R. B., Górska, U. J., Toker, D., Hudson, A. E., Brown, E. N., Diringer, M. N., Stevens, R. D., Massimini, M., Monti, M. M., Stamatakis, E. A., Boly, M., the Curing Coma Campaign collaborators.*Co-first authors
- Disorders of Consciousness
- Review
- Consciousness Theory
What's the Point?
Disorders of consciousness (coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state) span many mechanisms and disciplines. Progress has been slowed by siloed research across cellular, network, and clinical levels.
A co-first-authored white paper for the Curing Coma Campaign, integrating evidence across cellular, network, and systems neuroscience with clinical diagnostics and prognostics.
We identify the key mechanistic gaps and translate them into actionable research questions that connect basic biology to diagnosis, prognosis, and intervention.
Proposes a roadmap for a multimodal, translational science of disorders of consciousness—now widely cited as a reference framework in the field.
From the manuscript
This co-first-authored Curing Coma Campaign white paper synthesizes evidence across cellular, network, and systems neuroscience with clinical diagnostics and prognostics to identify key mechanistic gaps in disorders of consciousness. It proposes a roadmap for multimodal, translational research that connects underlying mechanisms with diagnosis, prognosis, and intervention.
Cain, J. A., Luppi, A. I., Spindler, L. R. B., Górska, U. J., Toker, D., Hudson, A. E., Brown, E. N., Diringer, M. N., Stevens, R. D., Massimini, M., Monti, M. M., Stamatakis, E. A., Boly, M., & the Curing Coma Campaign collaborators. (2021). Mechanisms Underlying Disorders of Consciousness: Bridging Gaps to Move Toward an Integrated Translational Science. Neurocritical Care, 35(1), 37–54.