Prognosis of consciousness disorders in the intensive care unit.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of prognostic modalities without systematic search methodology.
PubMed 37805070 · doi:10.1016/j.lpm.2023.104180
What was done
This narrative review summarizes prognostic assessment tools for critically ill patients with severe brain injuries and disorders of consciousness (DoC) in the intensive care unit. It covers the neurological examination, advanced neuroimaging, electrophysiological techniques, and multimodal assessment paradigms used to detect covert consciousness.
What was found
The review reports that cognitive motor dissociation is present in up to 15% to 20% of patients with disorders of consciousness and predicts functional recovery at 1 year post-injury. No other specific quantitative findings, effect estimates, or diagnostic accuracy values are reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
Advanced multimodal assessments can identify covert consciousness in intensive care patients who appear clinically unresponsive, improving prognostication of recovery potential.
Limits
As a narrative review, it presents no original empirical data or systematic search protocol in the abstract. Quantitative metrics of prognostic accuracy, specific patient population characteristics, and etiology-specific outcomes are not provided.