Arch Neurol Chicago
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Arch Neurol Chicago · Apr 2006
Brain response to one's own name in vegetative state, minimally conscious state, and locked-in syndrome.
A major challenge in the management of severely brain-injured patients with altered states of consciousness is to estimate their residual perception of the environment. ⋯ These results suggest that partially preserved semantic processing could be observed in noncommunicative brain-damaged patients, notably for the detection of salient stimuli, such as the subject's own name. This function seems delayed in MCS and (if present) in VS patients. More important, a P3 response does not necessarily reflect conscious perception and cannot be used to differentiate VS from MCS patients.
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Arch Neurol Chicago · Apr 2006
Can selection of rapidly progressing patients shorten clinical trials in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
The marked variability in progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) requires large numbers of patients to detect a significant effect in current clinical trial designs. ⋯ This strategy of selecting patients with rapidly progressing ALS for inclusion in exploratory, short phase II clinical trials offers substantial savings in costs and time, and could accelerate the process of testing potentially useful drugs for the treatment of ALS.