Might be useful for locked-in-syndrome. You better hope your ER doctors are up-to-date on all the latest.
http://dgnews.docguide.com/circadian-variations-body-temperature-linked-consciousness-level-brain-injured-patients?
For people with severe brain injuries, the rhythm of daily
fluctuations in body temperature is related to their level of
consciousness, according to a study published in the April 19, 2017,
online issue of the journal Neurology.
“Our study suggests that the closer the body temperature patterns of a
severely brain injured person are to those of a healthy person’s
circadian rhythm, the better they scored on tests of recovery from coma,
especially when looking at arousal, which is necessary for
consciousness,” said Christine Blume, PhD, University of Salzburg,
Salzburg, Austria.
In healthy people, daily variations in body temperature closely
follow the sleep-wake cycle. Other studies have found that disruptions
to the sleep-wake cycle may affect various aspects of health like the
immune system and short-term memory. During a normal sleep-wake cycle,
the body’s core temperature fluctuates and can drop 1 to 2 degrees
during the early morning hours.
For the current study, researchers monitored 18 people with severe
brain injuries, those with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and those
in a minimally conscious state. For 1 week, researchers continually
monitored the body temperatures of participants with external skin
sensors. With that temperature data, they were able to determine the
length of the circadian rhythm for each person. Length of temperature
cycles of participants ranged from 23.5 to 26.3 hours.
The researchers also evaluated the level of consciousness for each
person with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised, measuring things like
response to sound and ability to open eyes with or without stimulation.
They found that those who scored better on that scale had body
temperature patterns that more closely aligned with a healthy 24-hour
rhythm.
“This is the first time an association has been found between
circadian variations in body temperature and arousal in brain-injured
patients,” said Dr. Blume. “Importantly, arousal is essential for
consciousness. Circadian variations are something doctors should keep in
mind when diagnosing patients. The time of the day when patients are
tested could be crucial. Also, doctors may want to consider creating
environments for patients that mimic the light patterns of night and day
to help achieve a normal sleep-wake cycle. The hope is that this may
help bring a person with a severe brain injury closer to consciousness.”
The researchers tested bright light stimulation on 8 participants for
1 week and found positive effects in 2 patients. Dr. Blume said that
larger studies are needed to test the hypothesis that bright light is
indeed beneficial for patients.
One limitation of the study was that magnetic resonance imaging data
was not available to evaluate the extent of brain damage, especially in
the hypothalamus, the portion of the brain where the body clock is
located.
Dr. Blume suggests that future studies look at the relationship
between body temperature rhythms and other body rhythms like hormone
patterns and rest-activity cycles.
SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology
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