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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Coma Despite Normal Brain Activity Tests?

My grandmother was told she has breast cancer about two months ago. Last week she fell in the shower, still unclear what happened. She was conscious when taken to the hospital, but had difficulty breathing. She requested to have breathing tube which they placed her in induced coma to do. They also put in a feeding tube. After a few days of them taking care of some issues which she had to have a blood transfusion and fight off a bacterial infection they were able to take out the tubes and wake her from the coma. Only problem is she won t wake up. It s been 4 days since and she still hasn t woken up. They ve run several tests and all of her responses including brain activity is normal. She just won t wake up. I m worried she never will. Is this normal or is there a chance she won t wake up?
Thu, 19 Feb 2015
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Neurologist 's  Response
What tests did they do to examine the cerebral activity? If there have been a severe infection, different mechanisms are altered. Infection is one of the main causes (together with drugs and dehydration) to impair the consciousness in people of age. Older people are less likely to recover from coma because the ability of the brain to repair itself is decreased .
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What Causes Coma Despite Normal Brain Activity Tests?

What tests did they do to examine the cerebral activity? If there have been a severe infection, different mechanisms are altered. Infection is one of the main causes (together with drugs and dehydration) to impair the consciousness in people of age. Older people are less likely to recover from coma because the ability of the brain to repair itself is decreased .