These results suggest that tracking of auditory discrimination over time is informative of good recovery independent of the temperature target. This quantitative test provides complementary information to existing clinical tools by identifying patients with high chances of recovery and encouraging the maintenance of life support.

ObjectiveProminent research in patients with disorders of consciousness investigated the electrophysiological correlates of auditory deviance detection as a marker of consciousness recovery. Here, we extend previous studies by investigating whether somatosensory deviance detection provides an added value for outcome prediction in postanoxic comatose patients.MethodsElectroencephalography responses to frequent and rare stimuli were obtained from 66 patients on the first and second day after coma onset.ResultsMultivariate decoding analysis revealed an above chance‐level auditory discrimination in 25 patients on the first day and in 31 patients on the second day. Tactile discrimination was significant in 16 patients on the first day and in 23 patients on the second day. Single‐day sensory discrimination was unrelated to patients’ outcome in both modalities. However, improvement of auditory discrimination from first to the second day was predictive of good outcome with a positive predictive power (PPV) of 0.73 (CI = 0.52–0.88). Analyses considering the improvement of tactile, auditory and tactile, or either auditory or tactile discrimination showed no significant prediction of good outcome (PPVs = 0.58–0.68).InterpretationOur results show that in the acute phase of coma deviance detection is largely preserved for both auditory and tactile modalities. However, we found no evidence for an added value of somatosensory to auditory deviance detection function for coma‐outcome prediction.

Background With ageing, comorbidities such as neurocognitive impairment increase among people living with HIV (PLWH). However, addressing its multifactorial nature is time‐consuming and logistically demanding. We developed a neuro‐HIV clinic able to assess these complaints in 8 h using a multidisciplinary approach. Methods People living with HIV with neurocognitive complaints were referred from outpatient clinics to Lausanne University Hospital. Over 8 h participants underwent formal infectious disease, neurological, neuropsychological and psychiatric evaluations, with opt‐out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and lumbar puncture. A multidisciplinary panel discussion was performed afterwards, with a final report weighing all findings being produced. Results Between 2011 and 2019, a total of 185 PLWH (median age 54 years) were evaluated. Of these, 37 (27%) had HIV‐associated neurocognitive impairment, but they were mainly asymptomatic (24/37, 64.9%). Most participants had non‐HIV‐associated neurocognitive impairment (NHNCI), and depression was prevalent across all participants (102/185, 79.5%). Executive function was the principal neurocognitive domain affected among both groups (75.5% and 83.8% of participants impaired, respectively). Polyneuropathy was found in 29 (15.7%) participants. Abnormalities in MRI were found in 45/167 participants (26.9%), being more common among NHNCI (35, 77.8%), and HIV‐1 RNA viral escape was detected in 16/142 participants (11.2%). Plasma HIV‐RNA was detectable in 18.4% out of 185 participants. Conclusions Cognitive complaints remain an important problem among PLWH. Individual assessment from a general practitioner or HIV specialist is not enough. Our observations show the many layers of HIV management and suggest that a multidisciplinary approach could be helpful in determining non‐HIV causes of NCI. A 1‐day evaluation system is beneficial for both participants and referring physicians.