Assessment of localisation to auditory stimulation in post-comatose states: use the patient's own name

作者：Cheng, Lijuan; Gosseries, Olivia; Ying, Limei; Hu, Xiaohua; Yu, Dan; Gao, Hongxing; He, Minhui; Schnakers, Caroline; Laureys, Steven; Di, Haibo^*

来源：BMC Neurology, 2013, 13: 27.

DOI：10.1186/1471-2377-13-27

• Localisation to sound
• Auditory localisation
• Vegetative state
• Unresponsive wakefulness syndrome
• Minimally conscious state
• Own name
• Disorders of consciousness

Background: At present, there is no consensus on how to clinically assess localisation to sound in patients recovering from coma. We here studied auditory localisation using the patient's own name as compared to a meaningless sound (i.e., ringing bell).
Methods: Eighty-six post-comatose patients diagnosed with a vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome or a minimally conscious state were prospectively included. Localisation of auditory stimulation (i.e., head or eyes orientation toward the sound) was assessed using the patient's own name as compared to a ringing bell. Statistical analyses used binomial testing with bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.
Results: 37 (43%) out of the 86 studied patients showed localisation to auditory stimulation. More patients (n=34, 40%) oriented the head or eyes to their own name as compared to sound (n=20, 23%; p<0.001).
Conclusions: When assessing auditory function in disorders of consciousness, using the patient's own name is here shown to be more suitable to elicit a response as compared to neutral sound.

• 出版日期2013-3-18
• 单位杭州师范大学