No abstract

Background. Rehabilitation of patients with chronic disorders of consciousness is extremely important due to severity of the condition and increasing number of such patients. Disorders of consciousness have led to inability of self-care, need for constant care and complete dependence on outside assistance. Applying noninvasive brain stimulation and rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation seems to be perspective methods of rehabilitation. Aim. to evaluate the efficiency of rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using local navigation in patients with chronic disorders of consciousness. Methods. This prospective study was carried out in patients with chronic disorders of consciousness after severe brain injury. All patients received 10-day treatment with active high-frequency rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulations of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Revised coma recovery scale (JFK Coma Recovery Scale-Revised, CRS-R) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. Results. After the treatment with rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulations according to CRS-R 8 out of 12 patients improved their score. The best response was observed in patients in minimally conscious state. There were no cases of adverse events during the treatment. Conclusion. High-frequency rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulations provide an opportunity to improve level of consciousness in patients after severe brain injury. Using navigation system allows to rule out an inaccuracy in determining the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. As a result this study proposed the effective and safe protocol for rehabilitation of patients with chronic disorders of consciousness.

According to the World Health Organization, injuries take first place among the causes of death among the population under 40 years of age. In the Russian Federation, in 2019, death from external causes, including injuries, was in third place in all deaths. Among the causes of disability first place. Mortality from severe traumatic brain injury is over 70%. The most common cause of disability and mortality is head injuries. Annually, 1.5 million people die from traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the world, and 2.4 million are disabled. According to the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution National Institute of Public Health named after N.A. Semashko, the annual damage from the head injury is estimated at 500 billion rubles. This is a serious socio-economic and state problem requiring complex and multidisciplinary intervention.