Clinician-researchers at Pitt are trying, testing and tweaking brain-computer interface technology to search for and rescue communication ability in patients who otherwise seem unable to perceive and interact.
They’ve found that a system called mindBEAGLE, developed in Austria, could be a gamechanger for brain trauma survivors with disorders of consciousness, says Amy Wagner, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Professor in Translational Research and a professor of neuroscience. About 1 in 5 unresponsive patients shows signs of awareness, so-called “covert consciousness,” in functional MRI and electroencephalogram (EEG) studies.