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A vegetative state (VS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) [1] is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state, the patient is classified as being in a persistent vegetative state ( PVS ).
Stimulation cannot produce spontaneous periods of wakefulness and eye-opening, unlike patients in vegetative state. In medicine, a coma (from the Greek κῶμα koma, meaning deep sleep) is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than six hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, sound ...
In children, the most common cause is a stroke of the ventral pons. [9]Unlike persistent vegetative state, in which the upper portions of the brain are damaged and the lower portions are spared, locked-in syndrome is essentially the opposite, caused by damage to specific portions of the lower brain and brainstem, with no damage to the upper brain.
The ACDU scale, like AVPU, is easier to use than the GCS and produces similarly accurate results. [10] Using ACDU, a patient is assessed for alertness, confusion, drowsiness, and unresponsiveness. [10] The Grady Coma Scale classes people on a scale of I to V along a scale of confusion, stupor, deep stupor, abnormal posturing, and coma. [9]
ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO). It contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases. [1]
Brain death can sometimes be difficult to differentiate from other medical states such as barbiturate overdose, acute alcohol poisoning, sedative overdose, hypothermia, hypoglycemia, coma, and chronic vegetative states. Some comatose patients can recover to pre-coma or near pre-coma level of functioning, and some patients with severe ...
A deeper coma alone does not necessarily mean a slimmer chance of recovery; similarly, a milder coma does not indicate a higher chance of recovery. The most common cause of death for a person in a vegetative state is secondary infection such as pneumonia, which can occur in patients who lie still for extended periods.
The Glasgow Coma Scale is commonly used to assess the severity of traumatic brain injuries, including closed-head injuries. The scale tests a patient's eye, verbal, and motor responses. The scale goes up to fifteen points; with fifteen being the most mild injury, less than eight being a severe brain injury, and three being a vegetative state. [12]