Neural correlates of residual brain activity in PVS patients by means of P300 paradigm using the Subject’s Own Name. (P4.166)

OBJECTIVE:To determine residual electrical cognitive activities in PVS patients by using a P3 auditory stimulation paradigm including SON. To define and localize sources of electrical cognitive activities in these patients. BACKGROUND:Subject’s Own Name (SON) is a unique auditory stimulus which elicits an orienting response. The event-related potentials (ERPs)] have been used to evaluate the activation of brain residual activity in Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) patients. To locate the underlying generators of any residual processing revealed by P3 could be of great interest in terms of characterizing brain functions in these patients. Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) is an adequate framework for locating residual brain function in PVS patients. DESIGN/METHODS:The P3 component using SON was reconstructed in 5 PVS patients (1 female). The auditory paradigm was validated in 10 healthy volunteers matched by age and gender, using a 32 EEG channels montage. P3 Grand Average was computed and electrical sources were estimated by means of the BMA approach in all groups. RESULTS:A P3 component was observed in response to the SON in 4 of 5 patients in a PVS. No significant differences for latencies between patients and controls were found for the P3 component. Significantly lower activation was also found at the level of source generators in both hemispheres of PVS patients. PVS patients showed structures similar to the controls in response to emotional stimuli (recreated by SON). CONCLUSIONS:The SON elicits a robust P300 response in PVS patients related to attention orienting and possibly to residual (or preserved) semantic processing. Decreased P3 amplitude in PVS patients is indicative of central nervous system damage. The ERPs and source localization methods could be used to explore the neural correlates underlying the detection of our own name in patients with PVS. Disclosure: Dr. Olivares Torres has nothing to disclose. Dr. Iglesias Fuster has nothing to disclose. Dr. Cuspineda Bravo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sanchez Lopez has nothing to disclose. Dr. Perez Gesen has nothing to disclose. Dr. del Rio Bazan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Beltran Leon has nothing to disclose. Dr. Machado has nothing to disclose.