PET scans could predict extent of recovery from brain injury, trials shows
Doctors believe they may have found a reliable way to assess whether patients in a vegetative state after a severe brain injury are likely to wake up, raising ethical questions about the best treatment for those in an unresponsive state.
In a hospital trial, brain scans using PET technology – positron emission tomography – identified hidden levels of consciousness in a third of patients who had been unresponsive and diagnosed as in a vegetative state for more than a year. Most of these "woke up" or moved to a more responsive state within 12 months.
The results of the four-year trial – which took place in a specialist hospital in Belgium, with patients from all over Europe including the UK – raise ethical questions and could change clinical practice.
Read the full story on The Guardian website.