Obviously it is your responsibility to be able to do this while in a locked-in state otherwise you may be cut off from rehab. Not your doctor's responsibility, YOURS. You do know that this will never get to your hospital.
Does your hospital have an employee whose only function is to scan for stroke related research and information and create rehab protocols and distribute them to the staff? If not, YOU HAVE A FUCKING INCOMPETENT HOSPITAL.
Like this from August 2013;
Brain Shaking Technique - strong magnetic stimulation - Offers Measure of Consciousness
Or this, November 2017;
New brainwave-reading technique may unlock ‘locked-in’ patients
Or this, January 2019;
Electroencephalography-based endogenous brain–computer interface for online communication with a completely locked-in patient
Because you don't want this to happen!
Stroke Patient Hears Doctors Discuss Organ Donation
The latest here:
Sense of smell key to predicting recovery after brain injury, say scientists
Tests revealed 100 per cent of patients who reacted to 'sniff test' eventually regained consciousness
Sense of smell may hold the key to predicting the recovery of people with severe brain injury, according to scientists.
A
simple "sniff test", trialled by researchers at the University of
Cambridge, could help doctors diagnose and determine treatment for
patients who are in a vegetative state or have minimal consciousness
following brain injuries.
Patients
in a vegetative state can open their eyes, wake up and fall asleep
regularly and have basic reflexes but don't show signs of awareness.
Minimally conscious patients can have periods where they can show signs of awareness or respond to commands.
'Sniff test'
"The
accuracy of the sniff test is remarkable - I hope it will help in the
treatment of severely brain injured patients around the world," said Dr
Anat Arzi, a researcher in the University of Cambridge's Department of
Psychology and the Weizmann Institute of Science Israel, who led the
study.
Results published in the journal Nature
revealed 100 per cent of patients who reacted to the sniff test went on
to regain consciousness and more than 91 per cent of these patients
were still alive three and a half years after injury.
Doctors
often find it difficult to determine a patient's state of consciousness
after a severe brain injury but accurate diagnosis is critical for
treatment strategies, such as pain management, and for end-of-life
decisions.
Sense of smell relies on structures deep within the brain and works whether we are awake or asleep.
Accurate diagnosis
The
brain automatically changes the way we sniff in response to different
smells, with shorter and shallower breaths for unpleasant smells.
Scientists
carried out the ‘sniff test’ on 43 patients with severe brain injury,
presenting them different jars of smell for five seconds.
One jar contained a pleasant smell of shampoo, one an unpleasant smell of rotten fish, and one had no smell at all.
Each
jar was presented ten times in a random order and the volume of air
sniffed by the patient was measured using a nasal cannula.
Jars of smell
Researchers
found minimally conscious patients inhaled significantly less in
response to smells but did not discriminate between nice and nasty.
These
patients also modified their nasal airflow in response to the jar with
no smell, suggesting they were aware of the jar or anticipated a smell.
Vegetative
state patients had a more varied response, some did not change their
breathing in response to the smells but others did.
A
follow-up investigation three and a half years later found more than
91% of the patients who had a sniff response shortly after injury were
still alive, but 63% of those who had showed no response had died.
Sniff response
"We
found that if patients in a vegetative state had a sniff response, they
later transitioned to at least a minimally conscious state”, said Dr
Arzi, “In some cases, this was the only sign that their brain was going
to recover - and we saw it days, weeks and even months before any other
signs.”
Dr Tristan
Bekinschtein, from the University of Cambridge's Department of
Psychology who was also involved in the study, said:"This new and simple
method to assess the likelihood of recovery should be immediately
incorporated in the diagnostic tools for patients with disorders of
consciousness."
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