0000000000500995
AUTHOR
Domenico De Cicco
Preserved somatosensory discrimination predicts consciousness recovery in unresponsive wakefulness syndrome
Objective: To assess somatosensory discrimination and command following using a vibrotactile P300-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) in Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), and investigate the predictive role of this cognitive process on the clinical outcomes.Methods: Thirteen UWS patients and six healthy controls each participated in two experimental runs in which they were instructed to count vibrotactile stimuli delivered to the left or right wrist. A BCI determined each subject's task performance based on EEG measures. All of the patients were followed up six months after the BCI assessment, and correlations analysis between accuracy rates and clinical outcome were investigated.Re…
Predictors of non-invasive ventilation tolerance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Abstract Background The most frequent cause of death in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is respiratory failure. Recently, it has been shown that non-invasive ventilation improves survival and quality of life in ALS patients with respiratory failure, but little is known about predictors of non-invasive ventilation adaptation and tolerance. In this study we evaluated the effect of a comprehensive information about non-invasive ventilation use and a prolonged and intensive monitoring on tolerance to this palliative care. Methods We prospectively monitored all consecutive ALS patients with chronic respiratory failure and indication to non-invasive ventilation between January 2…