The results of the study led by Liège researchers were published this week in the international journal eClinicalMedicine, from the family of the prestigious journal The Lancet.
This examined the effects of apomorphine administered subcutaneously for 30 days in brain-injured patients with impaired consciousness, for example following head trauma or cardiac arrest. The treated patients showed an improvement compared to the phase preceding the start of treatment, which persisted even after stopping apomorphine, as well as a significantly better recovery than that of a control group treated in the same rehabilitation center (CHN William Lennox in Ottignies) but not receiving treatment, which seems to confirm the therapeutic potential of apomorphine in these rare neurological pathologies. The authors of the study describe not only an increase in conscious bedside behaviors (e.g., visual pursuit, response to command or communication), measured using standardized scales (Coma Recovery Scale – Revised), but also an improvement in electrophysiological (electroencephalogram) and neuroimaging (PET-scan) measurements between the pre-treatment and post-treatment conditions.
“This preliminary study will need to be confirmed by larger double-blind clinical trials, but it provides promising results both on the safety of use and the effectiveness of apomorphine for post-coma recovery” reports Dr. Leandro Sanz, first author of the article, neurology doctor at CHUV (Lausanne, Switzerland) and researcher at the Coma Science Group.
The Coma Science Group is a pioneering research center worldwide for the study of disorders of consciousness. It aims to improve the medical care of patients in a coma, in an unresponsive wakeful state or in a state of minimal consciousness, and it works to identify the neural correlates of consciousness. The William Lennox Neurological Hospital Center is a renowned center of expertise for the neurological revalidation of patients suffering from disorders of consciousness.
This work was carried out thanks to funding from the King Baudouin Foundation through the 2019 Generet Prize awarded to Prof. Steven Laureys, allowing the support of several research projects on altered consciousness.
“We have very few tools to improve the prognosis of patients after severe brain injury, and our understanding of the mechanisms of consciousness remains incomplete. This study not only provides hope for helping these patients recover functional independence more quickly, but it also helps us better understand and target the brain processes involved in disorders of consciousness.” confides Dr. Olivia Gosseries, principal investigator of the study, co-director of the Coma Science Group and FRS-FNRS research fellow.
Reference
Sanz et al., « Apomorphine for prolonged disorders of consciousness: a multimodal open-label study », eClinicalMedicine, 2024
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589537024005042
Contacts
They have GIGA
Olivia Gossets
Dr Leandro Sanz, MD, PhD, [email protected]
Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness
University of Liège and University Hospital of Liège, Belgium
https://www.coma.uliege.be/
https://www.gigaconsciousness.uliege.be/
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