Brain Response to One's Own Name in Vegetative State, Minimally Conscious State, and Locked-in Syndrome

<h3>Background</h3> A major challenge in the management of severely brain-injured patients with altered states of consciousness is to estimate their residual perception of the environment. <h3>Objective</h3> To investigate the integrity of detection of one's own name in patients in a behaviorally well-documented vegetative state (VS), patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS), and patients with locked-in syndrome. <h3>Design</h3> We recorded the auditory evoked potentials to the patient's own name and to 7 other equiprobable first names in 15 brain-damaged patients. <h3>Results</h3> A P3 component was observed in response to the patient's name in all patients with locked-in syndrome, in all MCS patients, and in 3 of 5 patients in a VS. P3 latency was significantly (<i>P</i>&lt;.05) delayed for MCS and VS patients compared with healthy volunteers. <h3>Conclusions</h3> These results suggest that partially preserved semantic processing could be observed in noncommunicative brain-damaged patients, notably for the detection of salient stimuli, such as the subject's own name. This function seems delayed in MCS and (if present) in VS patients. More important, a P3 response does not necessarily reflect conscious perception and cannot be used to differentiate VS from MCS patients.