Electric pulses ‘wake’ 15-year coma patient

A CAR crash victim has shed tears for the first time since entering a vegetative state 15 years ago after being fitted with an electronic implant.

The 35-year- old man suffered severe brain damage in the accident and had shown minimal signs that he was aware of the outside world.

But after an electrical stimulus was applied to his brain via a key nerve, he was able to smile and appeared to cry listening to a favourite song.

The unnamed patient also began responding to simple orders for the first time, following a moving mirror with his eyes and turning his head.

It had been believed that a patient in a vegetative state for more than a year could not regain consciousness. Scientists hope to use the technique on other patients to see if it could work more widely.

The breakthrough came after an implant was fitted in the man’s chest to stimulate of the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to the rest of the body and is known to be important in waking and alertness.

Dr Angela Sirigu, a co-author of the study from the University of Lyon in France, said: ‘Brain plasticity and brain repair are still possible even when hope seems to have vanished. It is possible to improve a patient’s presence in the world.’

Nerve stimulation is said to be the first technique to make a difference to the man, for whom drugs and rehabilitation have been ineffective. Scans showed the treatment, already used in epilepsy and depression, increased activity in his brain.

After a month of vagus nerve stimulation, the patient’s attention and movements significantly improved, according to the study published in the journal Current Biology.

But Dr Vladimir Litvak, of University College London’s Institute of Neurology, said: ‘This might be an interesting new lead but I would suggest to be cautious about these results until they are reproduced in more patients.

‘Furthermore, a minimally conscious state still constitutes severe disability and the authors had to use special tests to prove there has indeed been a change in the patient.’