Deep Brain Stimulation, Neuroethics, and the Minimally Conscious State: Moving Beyond Proof of Principle
Schiff ND et al. - The authors briefly review the motivation, ethical framing, and results of a recent single-subject study of central thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a patient remaining in the chronic minimally conscious state (MCS). In the study, a severely brain-injured human subject showed behavioral improvements in attentive responsiveness, limb control, recovery of oral feeding, and spoken language following central thalamic DBS. These findings are placed into the context of, and contrasted with, prior efforts applying thalamic brain stimulation to patients in the vegetative state (VS). [more...]
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