Editing Vegetative state (section)

=== Recovery ===
Many people emerge spontaneously from a vegetative state within a few weeks.<ref name="Jennett"/> The chances of recovery depend on the extent of injury to the brain and the patient's age – younger patients having a better chance of recovery than older patients. A 1994 report found that of those who were in a vegetative state a month after a trauma, 54% had regained consciousness by a year after the trauma, whereas 28% had died and 18% were still in the vegetative state. For non-traumatic injuries such as [[stroke]]s, only 14% had recovered consciousness at one year, 47% had died, and 39% were still vegetative. Patients who were vegetative six months after the initial event were much less likely to have recovered consciousness a year after the event than in the case of those who were simply reported vegetative at one month.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Jennett B | title = The vegetative state | journal = Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry | volume = 73 | issue = 4 | pages = 355–57 | date = October 2002 | pmid = 12235296 | pmc = 1738081 | doi = 10.1136/jnnp.73.4.355 | url =http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/73/4/355/T1.expansion.html| url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140116200149/http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/73/4/355/T1.expansion.html | archive-date = 2014-01-16 }}</ref> A ''[[New Scientist]]'' article from 2000 gives a pair of graphs<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2246/22464701.jpg |date=2014-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711065457/https://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2246/22464701.jpg |archive-date=2017-07-11 |access-date=2019-01-07|title=New Scientist}}</ref> showing changes of patient status during the first 12 months after head injury and after incidents depriving the brain of oxygen.<ref name="pmid11995720">{{cite journal | vauthors = Boyce N | title = Is anyone in there? | journal = New Scientist | volume = 167 | issue = 2246 | pages = 36–39 | date = July 2000 | pmid = 11995720 | doi = | url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16722464.700-is-anyone-in-there.html?full=true }}</ref>  After a year, the chances that a PVS patient will regain consciousness are very low<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Schapira A |year= 2006 |title=Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience|publisher=Mosby |page=126 |isbn=978-0-323-03354-1 }}</ref> and most patients who do recover consciousness experience significant disability. The longer a patient is in a PVS, the more severe the resulting disabilities are likely to be. Rehabilitation can contribute to recovery, but many patients never progress to the point of being able to take care of themselves.

The medical literature also includes case reports of the recovery of a small number of patients following the removal of assisted respiration with cold oxygen.<ref name="Ford_2006">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ford GP, Reardon DC | title = Prolonged unintended brain cooling may inhibit recovery from brain injuries: case study and literature review | journal = Medical Science Monitor | volume = 12 | issue = 8 | pages = CS74–79 | date = August 2006 | pmid = 16865070 | doi = | url = https://www.medscimonit.com/download/index/idArt/452867 }}</ref>  The researchers found that in many nursing homes and hospitals unheated oxygen is given to non-responsive patients via tracheal intubation. This bypasses the warming of the upper respiratory tract and causes a chilling of aortic blood and chilling of the brain which the authors believe may contribute to the person's nonresponsive state. The researchers describe a small number of cases in which removal of the chilled oxygen was followed by recovery from the PVS and recommend either warming of oxygen with a heated nebulizer or removal of the assisted oxygen if it is no longer needed.<ref name="Ford_2006" /> The authors further recommend additional research to determine if this chilling effect may either delay recovery or even may contribute to brain damage.

There are two dimensions of recovery from a persistent vegetative state: recovery of [[consciousness]] and recovery of function. Recovery of consciousness can be verified by reliable evidence of [[awareness]] of self and the environment, consistent voluntary behavioral responses to visual and auditory stimuli, and interaction with others. Recovery of function is characterized by communication, the ability to learn and to perform adaptive tasks, mobility, self-care, and participation in recreational or vocational activities. Recovery of consciousness may occur without functional recovery, but functional recovery cannot occur without recovery of consciousness.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Medical aspects of the persistent vegetative state (2) | journal = The New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 330 | issue = 22 | pages = 1572–79 | date = June 1994 | pmid = 8177248 | doi = 10.1056/NEJM199406023302206 | author1 = Multi-Society Task Force on PVS | doi-access = free }}</ref>