In cool, clinical language it’s known as “unintended intraoperative awareness with recall” — waking during surgery, unable to speak or move. Of 16 vegetative patients in the study, three repeatedly showed appropriate brain activity responses when asked to imagine moving their right hand and wiggling their toes. — to detect consciousness in a man who had been in a vegetative state for 16 years. The goal is to find a common neural code or “signature” to detect awareness. Theoretically, surgery patients would be given an EEG hair net and a set of headphones.

Source: National Post November 10, 2017 02:48 UTC