Wake-coma patients help with laser beams

Laser beams are intended to stimulate patients with a coma

15/12/2013

Berlin physicians want to help with the help of laser beams Wachkoma patients to raise awareness. A first study has now been presented at a congress. The procedure is about a state improvement, not about healing. The first study results were "a glimmer of hope," even if it was "not to cure, but to improve the condition".

Infrared laser into the brain
With the help of laser beams, Berlin physicians want to help wake coma patients become more aware. At a congress for neurorehabilitation, the team led by Professor Stefan Hesse from the Medical Park Clinic in Berlin presented a first study. The process of stimulating patients through the cranium with a near-infrared laser is still in its infancy. But Hesse said: „It is a ray of hope.“ It is not about healing, but about a condition improvement.

Eyes of coma patients are open
Researchers reported that most patients had longer periods of alertness and more eye contact. However, Hesse emphasized that laser stimulation does not change the maximum need for care and immobility. The brainstem reflexes are still intact in patients with caesarean patients, their eyes are open and they have a sleep and wakefulness rhythm. Some patients may follow simple instructions in awake phases, such as sticking out their tongue, moving their hands, or their eyes. This level of consciousness is recorded on scales.

Procedure already tested on stroke patients
In the US, the near-infrared laser method has already been successfully tested on stroke patients. The bundled light penetrates through the brain shell and stimulates the energy production of the nerve cells in the forebrain brain, which is important for the formation of consciousness. In Berlin, patients were irradiated daily for ten minutes for four to six weeks. „The process is still in its infancy but very interesting“, said the neurologist Prof. Manfred Holzgraefe from the Asklepios-Klinik for Neurological Rehabilitation in Seesen. This would allow those affected and their relatives to be given the opportunity to communicate again, at least to a limited extent. If necessary, a patient could even make statements about it, „how to proceed with him.“

Further study is to follow
„We know today that after severe traumatic brain injury, there are not only black and white, but also many shades of gray“, explained Hesse. And he turns to those shades of gray. The next step is to follow a study in which doctors and family members do not know if the laser has actually been turned on to see if there really is an effect. „It will be exciting, if we can use the procedure sometime in the early rehab“, so Hesse. Because then the recovery prospects are higher. Thus, comatose patients after a cardiac arrest with reduced oxygen supply therefore have a window of three to six months, after a traumatic brain injury of one to two years.

Causes of a vegetative coma
The most common causes of a coma are craniocerebral trauma, heart attack, sugar shock, cerebral hemorrhage (s), stroke and accidents when it causes brain damage. Children are just as affected as adolescents, adults or seniors. Around 10,000 people are affected nationwide. The triggers are brain injuries in which the damage can affect different areas. While in some cases the outer cerebral cortex, the so-called cerebrum, is injured, which is responsible for the processing of stimuli and perception, in other patients the midbrain may be the damaged area. Damage to the brainstem, the oldest area of ​​the brain, can also cause patients to fall into the budding coma. (Ad)