a PET would show areas lighting up in response to stimuli. It shows in living color the function or working of the brain. The others are nthing more than anatomy and anatomy is not destiny!
I have seen scans as bad as hers in people walking around and talking. You cannot extrapolate from an anatomical study to what is going on functionally.
That is why the PET is the gold standard.
Could the PET scan be done with whatever device has been put in her brain?
I have heard that the MRI cannot be done because of it, but I was not sure about the PET scan.
Yes, I know. I was just interested in what msuMD thought was wrong with the statements about PET scanning in the affidavit. I didn't see anyting wrong.
I'm a neurologist and have seen thousands of CT scans and I have to say I've also seen lots of elderly people walking and talking who have that amount of brain volume. But that's a little misleading. In Terri's scan, the occipital lobes and parts of the parietal lobes are totally destroyed with no recognizable structure. I can't say I've ever seen anyone walking around like that.
In her case, any structural imaging is irrelevant. If you don't see cortex, that doesn't mean it's not there. If you do, that doesn't mean it's functioning. The recent affidavit is the strongest argument that she is in a minimally conscious state rather than a PVS.