Man In Coma Regains Consciousness After Revolutionary Therapy

Although the patient is still unable to interact with his surroundings, he has regained consciousness, is awake and his gaze reacts to external stimuli

When a person regains consciousness after years in a coma, it almost always makes the headlines.

What happened not so long ago in a hospital in France, however, has a special meaning from a scientific point of view, because this case gives new hope to many patients in the same situation.

It’s about a 50-year-old man who has been in a coma  since he was 35 after a serious car accident . The University of Lyon, located next to the Pierre Whertimer Neurological Hospital (Lyon, France) where the patient is staying, carried out an interesting study  in which the patient’s  vagus nerve was stimulated.

It is a slow process and it is far from complete. Because the patient still has to struggle with serious consequences, waking up is slow. However, he already reacts to various stimuli, shows attention, can focus his gaze and direct it to certain things that interest him. 

This is just the beginning, but a very important step. We will then explain more about the therapy used, which was developed by a top team of doctors under the direction of Marc Jeannerod, a researcher at the Institute for Cognitive Research.

Woke up from a coma after 15 years

Psychologists and psychiatrists keep pointing out  that consciousness is difficult to explain and very puzzling. However, relatives of a coma patient know perfectly well that it is a condition between life and death.

Coma patients find themselves in a world of their own, far away, while their bodily functions are kept alive. Is there a way to restore consciousness to these patients?

The vagus nerve: the key to regaining consciousness

The study was recently published in the journal Current Biology . However, the news has already spread around the world.

The scientists urge caution. After all, there is currently only one patient who has undergone this therapy. Further studies are needed and the therapy needs to be tried on additional patients with brain damage. 

By stimulating the vagus nerve with light electric shocks, the doctors were able to induce the patient to react again to stimuli from the outside world. This nerve connects numerous other nerves, organs, and structures with the brain. It plays an important role in alertness and wakefulness.

In this case, the scientists also stimulated a specific area associated with the vagus nerve: the reticular formation. Among other things, this is responsible for regulating the state of sleep and wakefulness.

The question was whether the stimulation of this nerve, which is carried out by a kind of “pacemaker”  , can bring the patient out of his coma. The success is amazing: after 15 years of mental absence, the patient began to react to instructions, which was previously unthinkable.

More studies are needed

Scientists know that caution is required. It is not a new technique because it also stimulates the vagus nerve in patients with epilepsy and severe depression. However, the therapy is very slow and needs to be improved.

Although the patient has awakened from the vegetative state, it  is still far from being able to interact sufficiently with the environment or even be independent. 

He cannot communicate with his environment and there is no evidence that he can recognize his situation. Currently, his activity is limited to his gaze: he fixes his eyes on things that may interest him and appears to be particularly interested when his family reads to him. 

Even if it is a successful move, much remains to be done and numerous more studies are required. The researchers want to further develop the therapeutic potential of vagus nerve stimulation and try it out on patients.