Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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The purpose of this study was to assess the patterns of mismatch negativity (MMN) and N100 component in comatose patients and to evaluate their prognostic value vis-à-vis return of consciousness. ⋯ MMN and auditory evoked potentials provide a reliable assessment of the functional status of comatose patients. When present, MMN and the N100 differ from those found in normal subjects in terms of latencies and amplitudes. As a predictor of return of consciousness MMN had high specificity and low sensitivity, whereas the N100 had high sensitivity and low specificity. This study demonstrates that the recording of MMN and the auditory N100 can be a very useful aid in the assessment of coma and in predicting whether or not a patient will regain consciousness.