Canadian in 'vegetative state' communicates to scientists

The common wisdomthat people in a "vegetative state" cannot be reached may need to be rethought afterresearchers in London, Ont., have shown otherwise in the case of Canadian Scott Routley.

He suffered a severe brain injury in a car accident 12 years ago. Traditionalassessments suggested hehad nosign of awareness, or ability to communicate.

But Routley, 39, was able to provide answers tosimple questionswhile having his brain activity scanned in a functionalMRI scanner, researchers say.

Dr. Adrian Owen of the Centre for Brain and Mind atWestern University in London, Ont., said they are dealing with patients who are classified as being in a vegetative state who are awake but seem unaware of who they are or what's around them.

"These are patients who look vegetative," Owen said. "Even when they're examined clinically, they show no responses. But in the scanner, they can respond with their brains and in that way they can tell us that they're actually aware."

In Routley's case, they askedaquestion that is relevant to his care:Was he in pain? His brain response suggested no, which was a relief to his family, Owen said.

Functional MRI measures the real-time activity of the brain by tracking the flow of oxygen-rich blood. Owen's team uses MRI to look for certain patterns in brain activity when patients are prompted.

Owen moved from Cambridge, U.K., to London, Ont., where he was offered a Canada Excellence Research Chair, which brought$10 million in federal funding over seven years, the university said.

Evolving field

Dr. Don Weaver is Canada Research Chair in neuroscience at Dalhousie University, where he helped developthe Halifax Consciousness Scanner. UnlikeMRI technology, it's a portable EEGdevice that measures electrical activity in the brain using a head cap with electrodes.

The whole field ofconsciousness is a huge evolving fieldnow with many contributions occurring, Weaver said.

"This represents another step in the improved management of people who have head injury so that we're better able to identify people who are indeed 'in there,'" Weaver said.

BBC's Panoramadocumentaryfollowed several vegetative and minimally-conscious patients in Britain and Canada for more than a year.

In the documentary, another Canadian patient, Steven Graham, showed he has formed new memories since his injury, such as answering yes when asked whether his sister has a daughter. His niece was born after his injury five years ago.

So far, Owen said his MRI technique reveals that there is some awareness inabout one in five patientsin a vegetative state. Butpotential therapies are a long way off, both Owen and Weaver cautioned.