This scientific commentary refers to Edlow et al., Early detection of consciousness in patients with acute severe traumatic brain injury, Brain 140, 2399-241, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx176.
The major success of this study is the identification of cognitive motor dissociation (CMD) in half of the subjects without behavioural evidence of language function.
It is likely that the study of Edlow et al. will represent an historical watershed for discovery of the presence of hidden integrative cerebral function in the ICU. As noted above, the findings of this study set several challenges for future work and suggest refinements of measurement strategies tailored to the ICU patient.