Electroencephalograms during coma

Abstract

A clinical, eeg, and anatomic study was made of 5 patients in deep coma. Normal or borderline eeg activity, as well as a good reactivity to sensory stimuli, may be associated with deep coma. The types of eeg activity and reactivity have no diagnostic or prognostic significance. The site of the lesions and/or the variations of the internal environment may account for the unusual pattern of eeg activity. The assumption seems untenable that the same nervous structures are involved in the regulation both of eeg activity and of mechanisms which give rise to the state of consciousness.