Methods of Clinical Assessment in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness, with an emphasis on Electrophysiological Evidence

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Consciousness still remains for some cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists a remote and unempirical problem, but computational methods and understanding neural correlates of consciousness has opened a new area of research with vast clinical applications.On one hand, with regard to brain imaging and stimulation techniques the problem of consciousness is more addressable than before, and on the other hand thanks to brain imaging tools, consciousness level assessment is made possible.The major issue in this new research area is that whether we can help clinical cases that are in altered states of consciousness and recover their normal life.In this review we will first introduce different kinds of consciousness disorders, i.e. coma, vegetative, locked-in syndrome and minimally conscious states.Then we will focus on the electrophysiological methods of clinical assessment in patients with disorders of consciousness