Cerebral response to subject’s own name showed high prognostic value in traumatic vegetative state

Table 2 Prognostic value of activation type in VS/UWS patients

Cerebral activation	No activation or primary auditory cortex activation	Higher level activation beyond primary auditory cortex	Total
Bad outcome	17	4	21
Good outcome	6	12	18
Total	23	16	39

Showed predictive value (sensitivity = 66.7%, specificity = 81.0%) of activation pattern (lower and higher level) in VS/UWS patients; 12 out of 16 (75%) VS/UWS patients with higher level activation recovered to MCS or EMCS, whereas 17 (73.9%) out of 23 VS/UWS patients with no activation or activation limited to the primary auditory cortex had a bad outcome (remaining in VS/UWS). Outcome differed depending on activation type (P = 0.004, Fisher’s exact testing).

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