Bekinschtein T A, Golombek D A, Simonetta S H, Coleman M R, Manes F F
Institute of Cognitive Neurology, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Brain Inj. 2009 Oct;23(11):915-9. doi: 10.1080/02699050903283197.
To evaluate whether vegetative state patients maintain circadian rhythms.
An observational study of five single cases.
Five chronic vegetative state patients underwent clinical and neurological evaluations and 2-week continuous temperature measurements.
The two patients with traumatic brain injury showed well-formed circadian temperature rhythms and had more reflexive behaviours and relatively low cortical and sub-cortical atrophy, whereas the three patients from anoxic-hypoxic origin demonstrated no cycles or rhythmic behaviour.
The presence of periods of wakefulness does not imply preserved sleep-wake cycling capacity, nor preserved circadian rhythms and it should not be taken as a distinguishing feature for the definition of the vegetative state.
评估植物状态患者是否维持昼夜节律。
对5例单病例的观察性研究。
5例慢性植物状态患者接受了临床和神经学评估以及为期2周的连续体温测量。
2例创伤性脑损伤患者表现出良好的昼夜体温节律，有更多的反射行为，皮质和皮质下萎缩相对较轻，而3例缺氧性脑损伤患者未表现出周期或节律行为。
存在觉醒期并不意味着睡眠-觉醒循环能力得以保留，也不意味着昼夜节律得以保留，且不应将其作为植物状态定义的一个区分特征。
