This book provides up-to-date information on all aspects of brain function and responsiveness in patients with severe disorders of consciousness. Topics considered include the mechanisms and measures of consciousness; perfusional, metabolic, and fMRI markers of responsiveness; responsiveness to pain; the role of brain–computer interface techniques; electrophysiology; cortical excitability; autonomic responsiveness; the natural history of vegetative and minimally conscious states; and prediction of outcome. Brain neuroimaging has documented residual responsiveness in the vegetative state. The scientific impact of this seminal evidence has generated a schism between neuroscience and the clinical criteria defining consciousness and responsiveness. Our current understanding of human consciousness must be reconsidered also in view of the emotional impact on the public and the far-reaching implications for diagnosis, prognosis, medical treatment, human costs, medical and individual responsibility, logistics, healthcare, ethics, etc. It is hoped that this book will help to bridge the gap between neuroscience and clinical routine.

Responsiveness in Doc: A Quest for Consciousness?.- Advances in the Scientific Investigation of Consciousness.- Behavioral Responsiveness in Patients with Doc.- Clinical Evaluation of Residual Brain Function and Responsiveness in Disorders of Consciousness.- Measuring Consciousness through Imaging.- Decoding Thoughts in Disorders of Consciousness.- Brain Responsiveness after Severe Brain Injury: Revolutions and Controversies.- Exploring the Neurophysiological Correlates of Loss and Recovery Of Consciousness: Perturbational Complexity.- Brain Electrophysiology in Disorders of Consciousness: Diagnostic and Prognostic Utility.- The Persistent Vegetative State: Evidence That the Lower Brain Survives Because its Neurons Intrinsically Resist Ischemia.- Responsiveness and the Autonomic Control – CNS Two-Way Interaction in Disorders of Consciousness.- The Medical Practice Impact of Functional Neuroimaging Studies in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness.- Vegetative State Two Decades After The Multi-Society Task Force (MSTF) Report.- Moving Beyond End-Of-Life: The Ethics of Disorders of Consciousness in an Age of Discovery and Uncertainty.