The biggest news in the health and science community today was the announcement that researchers in Britain and Belgium have figured out a way to communicate with patients previously diagnosed as in a persistent vegetative state.

According to a report published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers developed a technique that relies on MRI scans of brain activity to allow patients to communicate answers to yes-or-no questions. Basically, different areas of the brain are activated when thinking about playing tennis versus visualizing moving about one’s house; researchers asked patients to think about tennis to answer “yes” and their home to answer “no.”  Out of the 54 patients enrolled in the study, one vegetative patient was able to use the technique to communicate with researchers.

The report also indicated that 40 percent of vegetative cases are misdiagnosed.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0905370

Experts say, The New York Times reported today, that the brain scan test has revealed the inadequacy of current bedside diagnostics – as well as uncovered a whole host of ethical dilemmas. If, for example, you ask a hitherto vegetative patient whether he or she wants to die and the answer is yes, how seriously should you take that response? Another doctor also warned against equating neural activity with identity – just because the lights are on doesn’t mean the same person or even anyone at all is at home.

Still, everyone who reported on the story today spoke with scientists who cautioned that far more research and testing is necessary before the brain scan could be introduced into widespread use.