Scientists say they’ve discovered a totally new kind of brain activity lurking beyond the “flat-lined” state seen in deep comas.
A team of Canadian and Romanian researchers found evidence of cerebral activity both in a human coma patient and in 26 cats induced by drugs into an incredibly deep (but reversible) coma. They describe the new phenomenon, which they’ve dubbed “Nu-complexes,” in a paper published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE.
Initial stages of comas are comparable to deep sleep, but if a person progresses into a deeper and deeper quietude, the brain state alters more dramatically. In cases of very deep comas, an electroencephalogram (EEG) monitor will render a flat line (also called an isoelectric line), marking a state in which the brain’s electrical activity has either stopped or is so low it is virtually undetectable. This is considered one of the boundary lines between having a living brain and brain death, but is not the only criteria that doctors use to declare someone brain-dead; there usually has to be evidence of structural damages in the brain as well.
This new research suggests that cerebral activity can revive after the flat-lined state, under certain conditions. The work started when Romanian doctor and study coauthor Bodan Florea observed unusual brain activity in a hospital patient who went into a coma following a heart attack.
Source: http://www.ibtimes.com