Coma

:For other meanings of the word "coma", especially in astronomy, see coma (disambiguation)

Coma outcome

The outcome for coma and vegetative state depends on the cause, location, severity and extent of neurological damage: outcomes range from recovery to death. People may emerge from a coma with a combination of physical, intellectual and psychological difficulties that need special attention. Recovery usually occurs gradually, with patients acquiring more and more ability to respond. Some patients never progress beyond very basic responses, but many recover full awareness.

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Gaining consciousness again is not instant: the first days, patients are only awake for a couple of minutes, then 15 minutes or so, 30 minutes etc.

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In Germany, Köln (music therapy) is used to quicken the awakening traject.

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In Belgium a project is set up to train dogs and cats's "sixth sense" to warn patients and medical staff someone is awake.

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A coma rarely lasts more than 2 to 4 weeks. Many patients who have gone into a vegetative state go on to regain a degree of awareness. Others may remain in a vegetative state for years or even decades. Predicted chances of recovery are variable due to different techniques used to measure the extent of neurological damage. All the predictions are statistical rates with some level of chance for recovery present: this means that a person may recover from coma even if their chances were low, but does not mean that the medical prediction of their chances were inaccurate. Time is the best general predictor of a chance for recovery, with the chances for recovery after 3 months of brain damage induced coma being low (less then 10%), and full recovery being very low. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15118882&query_hl=5 http://www.braininjury.com/coma.htmlThe most common cause of death for a person in a vegetative state is infection such as pneumonia.

Related Topics:
Statistical - Brain damage - Infection - Pneumonia

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