The vegetative state: a report of two cases with a long-term follow-up

Abstract

Objectives: To demonstrate that patients with Prolonged Vegetative State (PVS) can show signs of improvements and important changes and, consequently, to strengthen the necessity to evaluate them with long-term serial follow-ups.

Setting: Rehabilitation of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Participants: Two people with severe TBI discharged after a long period of inpatient rehabilitation in a condition of PVS.

Results: After 5 years some important changes happened and the initial prognosis was proved to be wrong.

Conclusion: Sometimes patients declared to be in PVS have the possibility to recover, especially when initial clinical conditions are particularly severe and do not allow the emergence of the state of consciousness. It is important to conduct regular follow-ups to better evaluate changes and, if it is necessary, to re-adjust the rehabilitation accordingly.