Caroline Schnakers – författare

In spite of medical advances and the increasing number of severely brain-injured patients, the assessment and treatment of patients recovering from coma remain challenging. For over 10 years now, the Coma Science Group has been working on the scientific exploration of disorders of consciousness, with both scientific and clinical research agendas. This book is the result of all this work. The aim is to offer both clinicians and researchers an opportunity to acquire expertise in a field which is constantly developing.

Besides diagnostic, prognostic and ethical issues, this book includes well-established findings on assessment techniques (i.e., behavioral scales, electrophysiological explorations and structural/functional neuroimaging) and treatment procedures, but also techniques under development (i.e., the use of classifiers, brain-computer interfaces, transcranial magnetic stimulation or deep brain stimulation) which will stimulate ideas for future research.

The Coma Science Group presents here a comprehensive book for readers, regardless of whether they are already familiar with the difficult but exciting field of disorders of consciousness.

Coma and Disorders of Consciousness, 3e is a fully revised new edition offering a comprehensive review of the field for clinicians and researchers in the field of disorders of consciousness.

Caring for patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) such as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (vegetative state) or minimally conscious state and related conditions such as locked-in syndrome currently represent a financial, medical and ethical conundrum. Although severe brain injuries represent a fraction of the population with brain injury, their cost is enormous (around $4 billion in direct medical costs per year), mostly due to the long-term care they need. The impressive number of studies performed on disorders of consciousness in the last decade has allowed refining diagnosis criteria, acquiring a better understanding of prognosis, and developing new tools to care and treat this challenging population. In this context, recently published milestone papers have provided new guidelines to clinicians for managing patients with DOC. This should lead to a shift in mentality and in the way we care for these patients. 

This book brings together researchers and clinicians to write about recent and future changes that will altogether improve the outcome of patients with DOC.

This revised and expanded second edition discusses the assessment and treatment of patients recovering from coma and disorders of consciousness. Besides diagnostic, prognostic and ethical issues, this book describes well-established techniques and procedures, and also techniques under development. New chapters include consciousness theories, issues relating to long-term care, and neuromodulation treatments. 

Coma and Disorders of Consciousness, Second Edition is a comprehensive review of the field for clinicians and researchers, regardless of whether they are already familiar with the difficult but exciting field of disorders of consciousness.