The following article is validation to why every paramedic should continually talk to unresponsive patients.
Study using EEG opens new opportunities for communicating, researchers say
The Canadian Press Posted: Nov 9, 2011 8:16 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 10, 2011 5:27 PM ET
Dr. Damian Cruse checks volunteer Irene Sperandio at the University of Western Ontario London, Ont. University of Western Ontario/Canadian Press
Researchers have discovered they can detect conscious awareness in some patients thought to be in a permanent vegetative state using an inexpensive EEG device that measures electrical activity in the brain.
The use of an electroencephalography, or EEG, machine, which can easily be transported to a patient’s bedside, follows an earlier breakthrough employing a functional MRI scanner to determine whether some people in a vegetative state were in fact consciously aware but unable to physically respond to stimuli.
