Cited by 400Traumatic Brain Injury ResearchSleep and Wakefulness ResearchTraumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 74 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 35 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Neuroanatomical correlates of brainstem coma

Parvizi, J.·2003·Brain

Abstract

The brainstem tegmentum, including the reticular formation, contains distinct nuclei, each of which has a set of chemical, physiological and anatomical features. Damage to the brainstem tegmentum is known to cause coma, the most radical disturbance of consciousness. However, it has remained unclear which nuclei within the tegmentum are crucial for the maintenance of consciousness in humans. Accordingly, we initiated a retrospective study of MRIs obtained from 47 patients with brainstem stroke. The lesion boundaries were charted on patient MRIs and transferred onto a corresponding series of 4.7 T MRIs obtained from a control brainstem specimen that later was cut on a freezing microtome and analysed histologically. In addition, medical charts and available post-mortem materials were used to obtain relevant clinical and anatomical data to verify the MRI readings in each case. We found that in the 38 patients who did not have coma, brainstem damage either was located outside the tegmentum (n = 29) or produced a very small and unilateral compromise of the tegmentum (n = 9). In contrast, in patients who had coma (n = 9), the lesions in the tegmentum were mostly bilateral (n = 7) and were located either in the pons alone (n = 4) or in the upper pons and the midbrain (n = 5). The maximum overlap territory of the lesions coincided with the location of the rostral raphe complex, locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, nucleus pontis oralis, parabrachial nucleus and the white matter in between these nuclei. We also found that four coma subjects developed hyperthermia and died in the absence of any infections. In these cases, the maximum lesion overlap was centred in the core of pontine tegmentum. Our findings suggest that lesions confined to the upper pons can cause coma in humans even in the absence of damage to the midbrain. The findings also point to the brainstem nuclei whose lesions are likely to be associated with loss of consciousness and fatal hyperthermia in humans.

Overview

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Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

In a retrospective MRI study of 47 patients with brainstem stroke, coma was associated with lesions clustered in the pontomesencephalic tegmentum, especially the upper pontine tegmentum, whereas non-coma lesions mostly spared the tegmentum or produced small unilateral tegmental damage. The maximum lesion overlap in coma cases coincided with the rostral raphe complex, locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, nucleus pontis oralis, parabrachial nucleus, and the white matter between these nuclei.

Key findings

  • Of 47 patients, 38 did not have coma: 29 had brainstem damage outside the tegmentum and 9 had very small unilateral tegmental compromise. Of the 9 coma patients, 7 had mostly bilateral tegmental lesions; lesions were in the pons alone in 4 and in the upper pons plus midbrain in 5. The upper pons was always damaged in coma cases, and no coma case had lesions confined to the medulla or midbrain only.
  • The maximum overlap territory in coma patients coincided with the rostral raphe complex, locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, nucleus pontis oralis, parabrachial nucleus, and intervening white matter; local connections between these nuclei and the ascending central tegmental tract were also severed.
  • Four coma patients died in a hyperthermic state (temperature >40°C) without any explainable source of fever; their lesions overlapped in the core of the upper pontine tegmentum, and they had signs of pontine compromise such as Cheyne–Stokes respiration.
  • Longer coma duration was associated with bilateral lesions and shorter duration with unilateral lesions; the longest coma was 7 days in patient M.M., who died without gaining consciousness, and none of the cases had persistent vegetative state or loss of consciousness beyond 1 week.

Methods

  • Retrospective study: from 236 subjects admitted with stroke and MRI studies, exclusion criteria reduced the sample to 47 patients (19.9%) with brainstem lesions. Lesion boundaries were traced on patient MRIs and transferred onto a 4.7 T MRI template from a control brainstem specimen, which was also cut and analysed histologically; clinical charts and available post-mortem material were used to verify MRI readings.
  • Coma was defined as a state of deep sleep with and without stimulations, whereas hypersomnolence was defined as a tendency to sleep when unstimulated but arousable when stimulated. Identification of damaged nuclei was qualitative, based on whether a nucleus location coincided with the lesion territory; no quantification of the degree of nuclear damage was attempted.

Limitations

  • The paper states that the records did not include behavioural or cognitive measurements regarding the degree of impaired consciousness, and that no quantification of nuclear damage was attempted because it is beyond current technology. It also notes the limited spatial resolution of the imaging techniques and that the aim was not to identify brainstem nuclei directly with imaging.
  • The paper states that exclusion criteria may have selected somewhat “pure” brainstem cases, possibly explaining the absence of coma lasting longer than 7 days; it also states that diffuse CNS inflammation following stroke could not be ruled out as a cause of hyperthermia.
  • Evident from the text: the coma group was small (n = 9), the design was retrospective, and the anatomical inference relies on lesion overlap rather than direct causal testing.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/brain/awg166

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

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Verification

Claims the paper makes

37 Own result · 17 Own interpretation · 15 No full text of the sources · 5 Own method · 4 No basis given · 3 Sources not found · 3 Not checked yet · 1 Check pending

Verify all 1 references — free account

Show all 46 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 28
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 15
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
39 of 39
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The normal brainstem specimen used as a template is representative of the brainstem anatomy of the patients with brainstem stroke.

    “First, a normal brainstem specimen was selected randomly from a collection of 610 brains from the University of Iowa brain collections at Dr Gary Van Hoesen's laboratory.The donor had died of stomach cancer without any neurological or psychiatric history.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The anatomical and physiological findings from non-human mammals about brainstem nuclei apply to humans.

    “As shown in Fig. 1, studies in non-human mammals have shown that these nuclei have the anatomical and physiological means to induce global changes in the electrophysiological activity of the brain.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The absence of an explainable source of fever in the four hyperthermic coma patients indicates that the hyperthermia is due to the brainstem lesion rather than an undetected infection or other cause.

    “To our surprise, we found that all four cases died in a state of hyperthermia (temperature >40°C) in the absence of any explainable source of fever.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The brainstem lesions observed in the patients are the cause of their coma.

    “This design made it possible for us to compare brainstem lesions that cause short lapses of consciousness with those that cause longer duration of coma.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The control brainstem specimen used for charting nuclei is representative of normal human brainstem anatomy.

    “The control brainstem specimen used in our study was cut on a freezing microtome into 50 mm thick sections.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The MRI chartings transferred to the template brainstem MRI atlas accurately represent the lesion boundaries in each patient.

    “Once the MRI chartings were transferred to the template brainstem MRI atlas, the overlapping regions were coded with different colours.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The absence of an obvious cause for fever in the four patients means their hyperthermia was not due to infection or other systemic causes.

    “they all had died in a hyperthermic state in the absence of any obvious cause for their fever.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The patients included in the study are representative of patients with brainstem coma generally.

    “As noted, from a pool of 236 subjects, we included only 19.9% of the cases.”
8 of 8

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Citations

Cites

Show all 74 references

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Bremer F. Cerveau `isole Â' et physiologie du sommeil. C R Soc Biol 1935; 118: 1235±41.
  2. Krout KE, Loewy AD. Parabrachial nucleus projections to midline and intralaminar thalamic nuclei of the rat. J Comp Neurol 2000a; 428: 475±94.
  3. Moore RY. The reticular formation: monoamine neuron systems. In: Hobson JA, Brazier MAB, editors. The reticular formation revisisted. New York: Raven Press; 1980. p. 67±81.
  4. Newman DB, Ginsberg CY. Brainstem reticular nuclei that project to the thalamus in rats: a retrograde tracer study. Brain Behav Evol 1994; 44: 1±39.
  5. Pace-Shott EF, Hobson JA. The neurobiologicy of sleep. Nature Rev Neurosci 2002; 3: 591±605.
  6. Paxinos G, Huang XF. Atlas of the human brainstem. San Diego: Academic Press; 1995.
  7. Simpson CW, Ruwe WD, Myers RD. Anatomical distribution of brainstem sites where PGE1 induces hyperthermia in macaque species. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 1993; 71: 414±24.

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Metadata

Authors
Parvizi, J.
Affiliations
University of Iowa (US)
Corresponding author
Parvizi, J.
Venue
Brain
Published
2003-04-22
Volume
126
Issue
7
Pages
1524-1536
ISSN
  • 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2156
OpenAlex
W2045226019
Cited by
400
References
74
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 15
FWCI
3.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Brain (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances
Keywords
brainstem infarction, reticular formation, consciousness, pontine tegmentum, locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, parabrachial nucleus, hyperthermia, lesion localization, midbrain
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Brain Stem, Coma, Female, Fever, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Pons, Reticular Formation, Retrospective Studies, Stroke

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