Protocolo de valoración neuroconductual estandarizada y de interpretación clínica de pacientes con trastornos crónicos de conciencia

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the existing literature on the possibility that some clinical findings may be useful for the diagnosis of the presence of conscious content in patients with chronic alterations of consciousness. From the neurological evaluation of certain characteristics of the patients in a systematized way, we try to detect the presence of content of consciousness in those cases in which the recommended clinical tools, such as the revised coma recovery scale, fail to unmask content of consciousness and we are in the presence of cases of the so-called “covert consciousness”. Although the diagnosis of this type of states is, to date, performed with functional neurological studies, a strategy for detecting phenotypic findings is presented for these patients that may be useful for the correct diagnosis.