Response: Commentary: Cortical responses to salient nociceptive and not nociceptive stimuli in vegetative and minimal conscious state.

Marina De Tommaso

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00012

Abstract

Response: Commentary: Cortical responses to salient nociceptive and not nociceptive stimuli in vegetative and minimal conscious state.

Highlights

Neurophysiopathology of Pain, Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sensory System (SMBNOS) Department, Bari Aldo Moro University, Bari, Italy
One study (De Salvo et al, 2015) evaluated Laser Evoked Potentials (LEPs) in a well-selected cohort of 13 vegetative (VS) and 10 minimal conscious state (MCI) patients. The correlation they found between LEPs latency prolongation and clinical features and Coma Recovery State, led to quite different interpretation as compared to our results
While we observed LEPs presence even in VS patients independently from the deterioration of other cognitive functions, De Salvo et al (2015) suggested that cortical potentials by nociceptive stimuli might be lost in severe disorder of consciousness and that their preservation may be a sign of possible clinical recovery

Summary

Introduction

Neurophysiopathology of Pain, Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sensory System (SMBNOS) Department, Bari Aldo Moro University, Bari, Italy. The main issue of their letter, regarded the possibility to complement LEPs assessment by means of a novel analysis focusing on EEG oscillating activities in high frequency-gamma-range, in accord to recent studies (Gross et al, 2007; Zhang et al, 2012).

Results

Conclusion