Trojano Luigi, Moretta Pasquale, Masotta Orsola, Loreto Vincenzo, Estraneo Anna
a Neuropsychology Lab., Department of Psychology , University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli' , Caserta , Italy.
b Disorder of Consciousness Lab. , Maugeri Clinical and Scientific Institutes, IRCCS , Telese Terme , BN , Italy.
Brain Inj. 2018;32(12):1549-1555. doi: 10.1080/02699052.2018.1504117. Epub 2018 Jul 30.
Eye behaviour is important to distinguish minimally conscious state (MCS) from vegetative state (VS).
To search for conditions most suitable to characterize patients in MCS and in VS on quantitative assessment of visual tracking.
This is a cross-sectional study.
In total, 20 patients in VS, 13 in MCS plus and 11 in MCS minus participated in this study.
Neurorehabilitation Unit.
Evaluation of eye behaviour was performed by infrared system; stimuli were represented by a red circle, a picture of a patient's own face and a picture of an unfamiliar face, slowly moving on a personal computer (PC) monitor. Visual tracking on the horizontal and vertical axes was compared.
The main outcome measures were proportion of on-target fixations and mean fixation duration.
The proportion of on-target fixations differed as a function of the stimulus in patients in MCS plus but not in other groups. Own face and unfamiliar face elicited a similar proportion of on-target fixations. Tracking along the horizontal axis was more accurate than that along the vertical axis in patients in both MCS plus and MCS minus. Fixation duration did not differ among the three groups.
Horizontal visual tracking of salient stimuli seems particularly suitable for eliciting on-target fixations. Quantitative assessment of visual tracking can complement clinical evaluation for reducing diagnostic uncertainty between patients in MCS or VS.
眼部行为对于区分微意识状态（MCS）和植物状态（VS）很重要。
通过对视觉追踪进行定量评估，寻找最适合对处于MCS和VS的患者进行特征描述的条件。
这是一项横断面研究。
共有20例VS患者、13例加型MCS患者和11例减型MCS患者参与了本研究。
神经康复科。
通过红外系统对眼部行为进行评估；刺激物由一个红色圆圈、患者自己面部的图片和一张陌生面孔的图片组成，在个人电脑（PC）显示器上缓慢移动。比较水平和垂直轴上的视觉追踪情况。
主要观察指标为目标注视比例和平均注视持续时间。
加型MCS患者的目标注视比例因刺激物不同而有所差异，其他组则不然。自己面部和陌生面孔引起的目标注视比例相似。加型MCS和减型MCS患者水平轴上的追踪比垂直轴上更准确。三组之间的注视持续时间没有差异。
对显著刺激的水平视觉追踪似乎特别适合引发目标注视。视觉追踪的定量评估可以补充临床评估，以减少MCS或VS患者之间诊断的不确定性。
