Right Median Nerve Electrical Stimulation for Coma Treatment—Recent Experience in Lithuania and the U.S.A.

Abstract

Everyone knows what consciousness is until he attempts of define it [1]. From the point of view of a psychologist, consciousness, from our natal day, is a teeming multiplicity of objects and relations. What we call simple sensations are results of discriminative attention, often pushed to a very high degree [1]. It is usually associated with the higher mental functions, such as feelings, attitudes and emotions, based on past memories and experience. From the viewpoint of physician, consciousness is the state of the patient’s momentary awareness of self and environment and his responsiveness to external stimulation and inner need [2]. This is the more simple definition, what accents the voluntary response to the environment. The opposite of consciousness is unconsciousness: the state of unawareness of self and environment. Between these two extremes lie various conditions, which have indistinct limits. From the practical point of view of a physician, it is common to speak about the level of consciousness. The level of consciousness (LOS) is described in various scales, with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) used most widely among the neurologists and neurosurgeons [3].