Bedside monitoring of nutritional metabolism in the persistent vegetative state.

Relating in Vivo Pathophysiology to Neuropathology after Human Head Injury

The meticulous clinico-pathological studies undertaken by the Glasgow School of Neuropathology have indicated that various processes may prove lethal or be associated with severe disability and yet it has been difficult to define those processes in life. Examples include cerebral ischaemia, cholinergic dysfunction and the different patterns of neuropathological damage associated with the vegeta...

Patients in the persistent vegetative state: problems in their long term management.

Physicians responsible for the long term management of patients in the persistent vegetative state face several problems. These include deciding whether tube feeding is treatment or nutritional care, whether withdrawal of tube feeding is an appropriate form of management, what clinical advantage there is in active treatment; at what level of awareness can a patient be said to have a quality of ...

Caring for the critically ill patient in a persistent vegetative state: must nutritional and hydration support always be provided?

Maternal persistent vegetative state with successful fetal outcome.

A woman suffered from massive blunt injuries in a motor vehicle accident at a presumed 4 weeks' gestation, but she successfully carried the fetus for an additional 29 weeks. Premature labor began at 33 weeks' gestation and a live 1,890 g male was delivered. His development was normal for the 12-months postnatal follow-up period. The patient remained in a persistent vegetative state. Only 12 cas...

Plum and Posner's Diagnosis of Stupor

The book begins with a description of the physiology of consciousness and the pathophysiology of disorders of consciousness. It continues with a description of the approach to a patient with a disorder of consciousness, emphasizing the bedside examination, but including the use of modern imaging techniques. The important structural and metabolic causes of coma are reviewed in detail. It then de...