Estado vegetativo-alfa persistente

Abstract

After briefly reviewing the concepts of "coma" and "alpha-coma", we report the case of a patient with presumable Pick's disease who spent several weeks in a vegetative state with a normal and reactive EEG in the alpha range in the later stages of her illness. We (a) emphasize some implications of the appearance of the eyes in such patients, b) stress the importance of distinguishing alpha activity from true alpha rhythm and (c) suggest the category "alpha-coma" should include only those individuals bearing evidence of disorders of the junctional tegmentum of the pons and midbrain. In a complementary way, we propose that patients in a persistent vegetative state displaying normal EEG should be separately classified as persistent "alpha-vegetative state".

Case Report: Catatonic Stupor in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia

“…From a neurological perspective, catatonic stupor is more complex than abulia minor, akinetic mutism, or the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, all of which are common end-stages of dementia from diverse etiologies ( 62 ). Although sharing many points in common, abulia and catatonia differ in critical ways.…”

Hematoma tegmento-mesencefálico espontâneo: aspectos neurocomportamentais do terço rostral do tronco encefálico humano

“…Poucos se dedicaram, até hoje, à fisiopatologia dos olhos fechados no coma, que, certamente, não resulta de paralisia do elevador da pálpebra superior 32 . Fugindo ao comum, por curiosa coincidência anátpmo-clínica, os "olhos fechados", em nosso paciente, resultaram de paralisia genuína do elevador da pálpebra superior, por comprometimento do III nervo craniano, ao passo que a "irresponsividade", apenas aparente, se deveu à abulia.…”