Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging As An Assessment Tool In Critically Ill Patients, Loretta Norton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Little is known about whether residual cognitive function occurs in the earliest stages of brain injury. The overarching goal of the work presented in this dissertation was to elucidate the role of functional neuroimaging in assessing brain activity in critically ill patients. The overall objective was addressed in the following four empirical chapters: In Chapter 2, three versions of a hierarchically-designed auditory task were developed and their ability to detect various levels of auditory language processing was assessed in individual healthy participants. The same procedure was then applied in two acutely comatose patients. In Chapter 3, a hierarchical auditory task …