Détecter les signes de conscience chez le patient en état de conscience minimale

At present, about a third of minimally conscious patients are erroneously diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. The use of autoreferential stimuli such as following one's reflection in a mirror permits to detect early signs of consciousness in these noncommunicative patients. Behavioral, electroencephalographic and neuroimaging studies using patients' own name and own face showed that it is possible to differentiate between conscious and unconscious brain-damaged patients.