Posted on 06/15/2005 9:51:07 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Cause of Death: Complications of Anoxic Encephalopathy.
Manner of Death: Undetermined
The persistent vegetative state and minimally conscious state, are clinical diagnoses, not pathologic ones.
(these are all statements from the report)
(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...
In other words, the brain weight loss would be minimal. Please feel free to select a bulb.
See autopsy for actual facts, not that which you wish to believe. Just stepped on your bulb. Was a defective one.
Mostly in the old days there was a lot of "her brain is completely mush" kind of quotes.
No, you'd die long before your brain began to desicate. There was no substantial weight loss (in the brain) due to dehydration. Even high school biology should have given everyone the tools to understand that at least.
"I have been employed in the medical field for about 25 years."
""How long have you been a rumor monger impugning the reputation of the coroner without offering any proof of what you accuse him of?""
The above quot is not mine.
Find me one--documented in the medical literature.
As I recall, though, the husband said something along those lines fairly often.
Strens LH, Mazibrada G, Duncan JS, Greenwood R.
Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, London, UK. l.strens@ion.ucl.ac.uk
Patients who suffer severe brain damage may be left unaware of self and of the environment and in a permanent vegetative state (PVS). The difficulties in correctly ascertaining unawareness after brain injury have been emphasized by a number of authors. It is well recognized that toxic-metabolic and drug-induced cerebral depression occurs acutely after brain injury. However, less attention has been drawn to the effects of medication months after brain injury and the way in which medication may confound assessment of awareness and, thus, the reliable assessment of long-term prognosis. This paper describes two patients who sustained a severe and well-documented structural brain injury, one hypoxic and one traumatic. Both were unaware when first seen at 3 months post-injury, but both have made useful functional recovery. The paper discusses their progress and how the early prescription of large doses of anti-epileptic drugs, sedatives and anti-spastic agents in these circumstances may result in an initial misdiagnosis of the vegetative state.
Kampfl A, Schmutzhard E, Franz G, Pfausler B, Haring HP, Ulmer H, Felber S, Golaszewski S, Aichner F.
Department of Neurology, University Hospital Innsbruck, Austria.
BACKGROUND: The early post-traumatic vegetative state (VS) is compatible with recovery. Various clinical and laboratory tests have failed to predict recovery so we assessed the value of cerebral magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) in prediction of recovery. METHODS: 80 adult patients in post-traumatic VS had cerebral MRI between 6 weeks and 8 weeks after injury. MRIs were reviewed by three neuroradiologists for the number, sizes, and location of brain lesions. Three neurologists assessed the patients at the time of MRI and at 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months after injury using the Glasgow Outcome Scale. FINDINGS: At 12 months, 38 patients had recovered while 42 patients remained in the VS. The demographic characteristics and causes and severity of injury were similar in patients in persistent VS (PVS) and those who recovered (NPVS). An average of 6.1 different brain areas were injured in patients in PVS compared with 4.6 areas in patients who had NPVS. Patients in PVS revealed a significantly higher frequency of corpus callosum, corona radiata, and dorsolateral brainstem injuries than did patients who recovered. Logistic regression analysis showed that corpus callosum and dorsolateral brainstem injuries were predictive of non-recovery. The adjusted odds ratios for non-recovery of patients with a corpus callosum lesion and dorsolateral brainstem injury were 213.8 (95% CI 14.2-3213.3), and 6.9 (11-42.9), respectively. In contrast, clinical characteristics, such as initial score on the Glasgow Coma Scale, age, and pupillary abnormalities failed to predict recovery. INTERPRETATION: Cerebral MRI findings in the subacute stage after head injury can predict the outcome of the post-traumatic VS. Corpus callosum and dorsolateral brainstem lesions are highly significant in predicting non-recovery.
Tsao CY, Ellingson RJ, Wright FS.
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital, Ohio State University, Columbus 43205.
The absence of bilateral early cortical SEPs in a PVS due to nontraumatic coma is usually associated with failure to recover cognition or awareness, although rarely patients with bilaterally absent cortical SEPs in posttraumatic PVS may regain cognition. On the other hand, normal cortical SEPs in nontraumatic coma may be related to favorable outcomes as shown in this patient and other reports. Our patient is unique in that he had had serial normal SEPs, was in a PVS for 7 1/2 months, and recovered cognition, but not without cost in terms of damage to intellectual capability. Further long-term clinical follow-up studies to correlate clinical outcome with serial SEP data may be indicated.
"Most of what remains of her brain is essentially a fluid filled sac surrounded by a thin shell of brain tissue rather then the solid structure we normally associate with a brain."
This one seems to be unaware of the more recent focus on the hypothalamus as the seat of self-awareness. He goes on to say about Terri - "The deeper parts of her brain including the hypothalamus and brain stem (not shown in the scan) remain intact and these continue to function to cause wakefulness and regulate other automatic body functions. These deeper areas are more resistant to anoxic damage and so were for the most part uninjured from her cardiac arrest."
They say ignorance is bliss.
Some recovery cases above...
"""he had more densely packed neurons than the average man,'''
So how were Terri's neurons, kozaèka?
Soft and fluffy like eiderdown?
See
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423841/reply?c=144
Sorry for the confusion / error.
No problem, I've done the same thing too.
I don't use Italics when I quot just ""bla bla""
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