They can hear, see and have preserved sleep-wake cycles. Individuals with locked-in syndrome are fully alert and aware of their environment. Despite physical paralysis, cognitive function is unaffected. Affected individuals are bedridden and completely reliant on caregivers. Some affected individuals can move their eyes up and down (vertically), but not side-to-side (horizontally). Individuals with locked-in syndrome classically cannot consciously or voluntarily chew, swallow, breathe, speak, or produce any movements other than those involving the eyes or eyelids. In this way, he brilliantly highlighted the potential that these patients have to maintain a meaningful life despite their extreme disability. In his eyes, shaded by thick black lashes, was concentrated, as it often happens with an organ which is used to the exclusion of the others, all the activity, address, force, and intelligence which were formerly diffused over his whole body and so although the movement of the arm, the sound of the voice, and the agility of the body, were wanting, the speaking eye sufficed for all’. It was only, however, by means of one of these senses that he could reveal the thoughts and feelings that still occupied his mind, and the look by which he gave expression to his inner life was like the distant gleam of a candle which a traveler sees by night across some desert place, and knows that a living being dwells beyond the silence and obscurity. ‘Sight and hearing were the only senses remaining…. To describe a patient with a locked-in syndrome, the author used the following words: The first description of the locked-in syndrome can be found in The Count of Monte Cristo authored by Alexandre Dumas. Locked-in syndrome is caused by damaged to the pons, a part of the brainstem that contains nerve fibers that relay information to other areas of the brain. Communication is possible through eye movements or blinking. Cognitive function is usually unaffected. Individuals with locked-in syndrome are conscious and awake, but have no ability to produce movements (outside of eye movement) or to speak (aphonia). Locked-in syndrome is a rare neurological disorder in which there is complete paralysis of all voluntary muscles except for the ones that control the movements of the eyes. 5 Myths About Orphan Drugs and the Orphan Drug Act.Information on Clinical Trials and Research Studies.
0 kommentar(er)
