Journal
BRAIN INJURY
Volume 23, Issue 11, Pages 915-919Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/02699050903283197
Keywords
vegetative state; circadian rhythms; body temperature; guidelines
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Funding
- Antorchas Foundation (TAB) and PICT (DAG)
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Objective: To evaluate whether vegetative state patients maintain circadian rhythms. Research design: An observational study of five single cases. Methods and procedures: Five chronic vegetative state patients underwent clinical and neurological evaluations and 2-week continuous temperature measurements. Main outcomes and results: The two patients with traumatic brain injury showed well-formed circadian temperature rhythms and had more reflexive behaviours and relatively low cortical and sub-cortical atrophy, whereas the three patients from anoxic-hypoxic origin demonstrated no cycles or rhythmic behaviour. Conclusions: The presence of periods of wakefulness does not imply preserved sleep-wake cycling capacity, nor preserved circadian rhythms and it should not be taken as a distinguishing feature for the definition of the vegetative state.
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