Conscious while being considered in an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome for 20 years

Vanhaudenhuyse A, Charland-Verville V, Thibaut A, Chatelle C, Tshibanda J-FL, Maudoux A, Faymonville M-E, Laureys S and Gosseries O (2018) Conscious While Being Considered in an Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome for 20 Years. Front. Neurol. 9:671. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2018.0067

Despite recent advances in our understanding of consciousness disorders, accurate diagnosis of severely brain-damaged patients is still a major clinical challenge. We here present the case of a patient who was considered in an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state for 20 years. Repeated standardized behavioral examinations combined to neuroimaging assessments allowed us to show that this patient was in fact fully conscious and was able to functionally communicate. We thus revised the diagnosis into an incomplete locked-in syndrome, notably because the main brain lesion was located in the brainstem. Clinical examinations of severe brain injured patients suffering from serious motor impairment should systematically include repeated standardized behavioral assessments and, when possible, neuroimaging evaluations encompassing magnetic resonance imaging and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography…

In 1992, the patient sustained a severe traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident. He had no previous significant medical history. On admission to a general hospital, the Glasgow Coma Scale total score was 4/15 and both pupils were in myosis. Babinski reflex was present bilaterally. The patient was intubated and mechanically ventilated. Brain CT scan revealed left parietal, basal ganglia, and retro-pontic hemorrhages. The EEG displayed a non-reactive global slowing of basic rhythms without paroxystic activity. The patient was tracheotomized, received nasogastric feeding and left the intensive care unit 24 days later with the diagnosis of “coma vigil.” Six weeks after the insult, the treating nurse of the neuropsychiatry department reported that the patient had moved his right hand to command, but this observation did not change the clinical diagnosis and it was never reported on later occasions. Two epileptic seizures were observed 6 months post-injury. The tracheal tube was removed 8 months after the brain trauma. Neurological examination performed 9 months post-onset reported spontaneous eye opening without reproducible response to command, and concluded to a state of “irreversible coma vigil” (i.e., permanent vegetative state). One year and 5 months post-injury, he was transferred to a chronic nursing care home with the diagnosis of “comatose state.” The patient did not receive physiotherapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy. No stimulation or rehabilitation treatment was reported by the medical team in the nursing home.

Twenty years after his brain injury, the patient was transferred to our neurology department for a diagnostic evaluation as requested by the general practitioner of his nursing care home. The request was initiated by the family of the patient who was staying in the same room who had the impression that he was conscious. The diagnosis on referral was “coma vigil.” Pharmacological treatment included diphantoine (4 × 100 mg/d—antiepileptic), mirtazapine (1 × 30 mg—antidepressant) and lormetazepam (1 × 2 mg/d—sedative benzodiazepine). Medication was not modified during the week of assessment. Hetero-anamnesis was limited given that no family could be reached…

The [Coma Recovery Scale-Revised] CRS-R total score varied between 12 and 17. During every single assessment, the patient was able to repeatedly follow simple commands (e.g., close your eyes, open your mouth, lift your thumb). On two consecutive assessments, he could also functionally communicate (i.e., being able to systematically and accurately answer simple questions using a “YES/NO” codes), which means that he emerged from the minimally conscious state. The first time, the patient correctly answered the CRS-R visual questions using YES and NO cards. The second time, he responded accurately to self-related questions using a buzzer (i.e., buzz once to say yes). On three other assessments, the patient presented an intentional non-functional communication [i.e., clearly discernible communicative responses occurred on at least two out of the six questions, irrespectively of accuracy]. During all these assessments, we tried different codes of communication with the patient, such as point out YES/NO cards or rise your thumb to say YES/do not move your thumb to say NO, to finally observe that the best way to communicate was with visual fixation of YES/NO cards on the vertical axis…

When assessing his spatio-temporal orientation using YES/NO cards, the patient was able to correctly indicate his first and last name, the names of his roommate and the mother's roommate. He was, however, not able to give his age, to locate the hospital, neither the exact date (day, month, year) nor the season…

Despite recent advances in our understanding of disorders of consciousness and the redefinition of nosological distinctions between altered states of consciousness, diagnosis of severely brain-damaged patients continues to represent a major clinical challenge. If neuroimaging techniques support clinical examinations and help to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis of altered state of consciousness, behavioral assessment remains the principal method used to detect awareness in these patients . 

Nowadays, standardized scales such as the CRS-R are validated to assess the level of consciousness of these patients. In addition, series of studies have reported that specific clinical tools [e.g., using a mirror to assess visual pursuit or the own name to assess localization to sounds] can increase the chance of observing behavioral responses. In spite of these developments, clinical practice shows that disentangling reflexive from voluntary behaviors can still be very difficult.

Several misdiagnosis studies have been described in patients at an early stage after severe brain damage, as well as in the long-term care. Some studies reported cases of patients considered unconscious while they actually presented behavioral signs of consciousness when assessed more thoroughly. Other studies recount cases of patients who were considered unconscious at the bedside but who were actually found to be conscious with neuroimaging techniques, and some of these patients could even communicate with adapted communication code. Different factors can explain the high rate of diagnosis errors in patients with disorders of consciousness: the lack of knowledge about the diagnosis criteria and terminology, the absence or misuse of standardized assessment scale, the use of insensitive tools, the patients' perceptual and/or motor deficits, the presence of language impairment, the fluctuating arousal level, and the presence of pain or sedative drugs…

Our standardized-repeated behavioral assessments detected signs of consciousness and functional communication at the patient's bedside, which indicates that the patient emerged from the minimally conscious state. The neuroimaging results confirmed that the patient was conscious and that he actually was in a [locked-in syndrome] LIS due to a lesion in the brainstem. Because the patient could move more than a classical LIS, the diagnosis of incomplete LIS was finally made.

This patient had a brain injury 20 years before his admission to our center and he was misdiagnosed as being unconscious all these years when he was in fact fully conscious. The lack of knowledge about differential diagnosis of disorders of consciousness during this time period can explain that the patient received the diagnosis of “coma vigil” or “vegetative state.” The LIS was defined in 1966, while criteria of the minimally conscious state and emergence of this state were defined much later, in 2002. Moreover, 20 years ago, behavioral assessment of consciousness were limited to very few scales such as the Glasgow Coma Scale, which is not sensitive enough to detect small signs of consciousness . Our clinical practice shows that once stamped with the diagnosis of [unresponsive wakefulness syndrome ] UWS, it is often difficult to change the label, and the first signs of recovery of consciousness can be missed. The negative associations intrinsic to the term “vegetative state” can result to diagnostic errors and can also lead to potential effect on the treatment and care…

Our patient showed spontaneous eyes opening and severe motor impairment that could be related to quadriparesis. Communication, which was detected and could be possible via eye movements, was not easily reproducible: out of seven assessments, the patient was able to functionally communicate only on two consecutive assessments while a non-functional intentional communication was detected on three evaluations. Even if the patient presented an eye-movement-based communication, the diagnosis of incomplete LIS is challenging at the behavioral level because his communication responses fluctuated a lot. In addition, we should consider that the patient's deficit in spatio-temporal orientation (such as his inability to report the exact date or to locate the hospital) could be related to his 20-years-long impossibility to read a calendar or to be informed about the world outside his room rather than to a cognitive impairment. Inconsistency of behavioral responses and difficulties to correctly answer to orientation questions could also be the result of a lack of stimulation for the past 20 years.

At the neuroimaging level, structural MRI, DTI, and FDG-PET results highlighted a preservation of global cerebral metabolism and cerebral white matter combined with a lesion in the brainstem. The brain lesions observed with the neuroimaging tools, specifically in the brainstem, are typically observed in patients with LIS, with additional brain lesions.

In 33% of cases, a previous study showed that it was the relatives of the patient with LIS who were the first to detect consciousness and ability to communicate. In addition, guidelines emphasize the importance that the diagnosis should be made by involving information from family members or other persons who see the patient regularly. Other studies have also insisted on the critical role of the family or of a close relative in the assessment of patients.

The story of the patient we reported here is marked by an important social isolation. Indeed, since his accident, his family and friends were disengaged from the care and his general condition. The only people in daily contact with him were members of the medical staff. Since 1994, the patient was in a long care nursing home. Even if nurses knew him very well after all these years, they always referred to him as a “vegetative state.” The intrinsic negative connotation of the term “vegetative state” can lead to situations where the patients' relatives interpret this diagnosis as he is no longer a human being (but more a “vegetable”), and that there is no hope of recovery. The “unresponsive wakefulness syndrome” terminology was thus adopted to be more descriptive of the actual state of these patients and preventing the use of a pejorative term. In addition, even if the medical team usually strive to maintain these people's rights as human beings and treat them with respect, it is difficult to be optimistic and adopt a positive attitude during years when patients are very low responsive.

See:  http://childnervoussystem.blogspot.com/2015/04/an-aromatherapist-saw-something-in-his.html