Short-term spinal cord stimulation in treating disorders of consciousness monitored by resting-state fMRI and qEEG: The first case report

This case report explores the use of short-term spinal cord stimulation (st-SCS) to improve consciousness in a patient with severe brain injury. The patient, who had been in a vegetative state for three months, showed improvement after receiving st-SCS treatment. The patient regained the ability to communicate and moved from a vegetative state to a minimally conscious state following the treatment. This improvement was monitored using resting-state fMRI and quantitative EEG, which showed changes in brain activity and connectivity. The findings suggest that st-SCS may be a potentially effective and less invasive treatment option for certain patients with disorders of consciousness, potentially reducing suffering and financial burden.

• 1
  The patient improved from a vegetative state/unwakefulness syndrome to an emergence from a minimally conscious state after st-SCS treatment.
• 2
  Resting-state fMRI showed a trend toward the functional connection pattern of normal controls, with changes in the anterior medial pre-frontal cortex (aMPFC) and posterior cingulated cortex (PCC) in the default mode network (DMN), and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) in the executive control network (ECN).
• 3
  Quantitative EEG showed increased brain activity, amplitude, and rhythm, and an increase in whole brain permutation entropy (PE) after treatment.