Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Bardin J, Fins J, Katz D, Hersh J, Heier L, Tabelow K, Dyke J, Ballon D, Schiff N, Voss H
Journal	Brain
Volume	134
Issue	Pt 3
Pagination	769-82
Date Published	03/01/2011
ISSN	1460-2156
Keywords	Brain, Brain Injuries, Cognition Disorders, Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Abstract	Functional neuroimaging methods hold promise for the identification of cognitive function and communication capacity in some severely brain-injured patients who may not retain sufficient motor function to demonstrate their abilities. We studied seven severely brain-injured patients and a control group of 14 subjects using a novel hierarchical functional magnetic resonance imaging assessment utilizing mental imagery responses. Whereas the control group showed consistent and accurate (for communication) blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses without exception, the brain-injured subjects showed a wide variation in the correlation of blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses and overt behavioural responses. Specifically, the brain-injured subjects dissociated bedside and functional magnetic resonance imaging-based command following and communication capabilities. These observations reveal significant challenges in developing validated functional magnetic resonance imaging-based methods for clinical use and raise interesting questions about underlying brain function assayed using these methods in brain-injured subjects.
DOI	10.1093/brain/awr005
PubMed ID	21354974
PubMed Central ID	PMC3044833