Coma Patient Recovers After Twenty Years

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Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 04 Jul 2006 - 9:00 PDT


Terry Wallis was barely conscious for twenty years after a car accident - three years ago he started speaking again. A short time later he was able to move his arms and legs.

Doctors say his brain gradually started rewiring itself. Scientists found that cells in a relatively undamaged part of his brain had created new axons. Axons are long nerve fibres that pass messages between neurons.

When Wallis came out of his semi-conscious state he thought it was still 1984.

You can read about this in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

At first his speech was slurred. The first word he uttered was 'Mom'. His doctors were amazed that he managed to make any recovery at all after so many years. They started tracking the areas of his brain for growth and changes in activity levels.

Even though he has recovered movement of his limbs, he is not yet able to walk or feed himself unaided.

Wallis had tumbled over a guardrail in his pickup truck and fell 25 feet into a riverbed. He was 19 years old. Doctors had given him little chance of survival.

Henning Voss, Weill Medical College's Citigroup Biomedical Imaging Center, lead author, said "I believe it's a very, very slow self-healing process of the brain."

The researchers believe that Wallis' brain may have been seeking out new pathways to re-establish functional connections.

Even though what happened to Wallis is extremely unusual, scientists say doctors may have to rethink how they treat comatose patients.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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