Changes

==As this relates to the link on the home page==

==As this relates to the link on the main page==

There is a pretty fundamental difference between a coma and a vegetative state.  Coma patients are unconscious and unresponsive (but may possess some reflexes) and they do not experience normal sleep/wake cycles.  Patients in a vegetative state do experience periods of arousal mimicking normal sleep/wake cycles, they are generally unresponsive to external stimuli but they may engage in various involuntary movements.  It is important to note that in patients who are truly in a vegetative state, the "wakeful" seeming behaviors that they exhibit do not result from any "higher order" brain functions--they are simply the consequence of having an intact brain stem.  Generally, the possibility of a patient recovering from a persistent vegetative state (a vegetative state that persists for longer than four weeks) is near zero. --[[User:RudrickBoucher|RudrickBoucher]] 09:05, 27 October 2011 (EDT)

There is a pretty fundamental difference between a coma and a vegetative state.  Coma patients are unconscious and unresponsive (but may possess some reflexes) and they do not experience normal sleep/wake cycles.  Patients in a vegetative state do experience periods of arousal sometimes mimicking normal sleep/wake cycles, they are generally unresponsive to external stimuli but they may engage in various involuntary movements.  It is important to note that in patients who are truly in a vegetative state, the "wakeful" seeming behaviors that they exhibit do not result from any "higher order" brain functions--they are simply the consequence of having an intact brain stem.  Generally, the possibility of a patient recovering from a persistent vegetative state (a vegetative state that persists for longer than four weeks) is near zero. --[[User:RudrickBoucher|RudrickBoucher]] 09:05, 27 October 2011 (EDT)