EARLY RESTRUCTURATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS AFTER TRAUMATIC COMA

Recovery of consciousness after acute brain injury is a remarkable phe nomenon, yet, not completely understood. We describe the early clinica l stages of recovery of consciousness in 48 selected patients by means of different items of the Glasgow Coma and Liege Coma Scales. Arousal , expressed by the stimulated opening of the eyes (E2) was correlated with the appearance of the localizing pain response (M5), with the cap acity to obey commands (M6), with the opening of the eyes (E4) and wit h the blink reflex (R5). This study confirms the classical clinical se quence of arousal and recovery of consciousness characterized by the c onsecutive appearance of E2, R5, E4, M5 and M6. When the appearance of E2 and R5 are considered separately, we noticed a significant differe nce, suggesting different structural and functional brain recovery pro cesses.