Severe Brain Damage Research
Severe acquired brain injury pose a unique set of diagnostic and management challenges to the clinician, both in the initial evaluation as well as during the subsequent course of recovery. Many health professionals treat severely brain injured patients using a variety of rehabilitation therapies. Yet, in spite of this large endeavour, there is no agreement on the efficacy of these therapies, though it can be concluded that at least some are effective. Without understanding the mechanisms of rehabilitation, the refinement and improvement of rehabilitation methods based on scientific principles will be difficult.
The severe brain damage research at Hammel Neurorehabilitation and Research Centre (HNRC) focuses upon recovery of neurological disability and of neuronal plasticity in severely brain damaged patients with altered states of consciousness such as coma, vegetative state (VS), minimally conscious state (MCS) and locked in syndrome (LIS).
The major research goals fall within following categories:
- To improve understanding of disorders of consciousness following an acute insult such as coma, VS, MCS, LIS
- To reveal the extent of residual sensory and cognitive function in patients who survive a severe brain injury
- To develop electrophysiological paradigms to improve the diagnostic assessment of patients behaviourally considered to meet the criteria defining the VS or MCS
- To enhance the understanding of the neural mechanisms of functional recovery upon severe brain damage
- To develop and/or evaluated acute and early-postacute methods of clinical rehabilitation of severely brain injured patients
- To improve predicting of recovery from severe brain injury in the early phase of rehabilitation
Methodologies:
- Behavioural evaluation
- Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)
- Sensory and Motor Evoked Potentials (SEP and MEP)
- Event Related Potentials (ERP)
- Body Weight Supported Treadmill Training (BWSTT)
The staff of our research unit includes members of a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines – medical doctors, psychologists, engineers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses.
