Proceedings of the First Curing Coma Campaign NIH Symposium: Challenging the Future of Research for Coma and Disorders of Consciousness

Abstract

Coma and disorders of consciousness (DoC) are highly prevalent and constitute a burden for patients, families, and society worldwide. As part of the Curing Coma Campaign, the Neurocritical Care Society partnered with the National Institutes of Health to organize a symposium bringing together experts from all over the world to develop research targets for DoC. The conference was structured along six domains: (1) defining endotype/phenotypes, (2) biomarkers, (3) proof-of-concept clinical trials, (4) neuroprognostication, (5) long-term recovery, and (6) large datasets. This proceedings paper presents actionable research targets based on the presentations and discussions that occurred at the conference. We summarize the background, main research gaps, overall goals, the panel discussion of the approach, limitations and challenges, and deliverables that were identified.

Proceedings of the Second Curing Coma Campaign NIH Symposium: Challenging the Future of Research for Coma and Disorders of Consciousness

“…The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) initially collaborated with the CCC to organize a part I, 2-day virtual symposium in September 2020 to facilitate a broad discussion between various stakeholders, including CCC leadership, National Institutes of Health (NIH) representative, experts in coma science, industry partners, and patient advocates. The summary of the proceedings was published in the special CCC issue [21]. Following the discussions of the first NIH symposium, six major workgroups (WGs) were created to investigate gaps and develop research priorities across six domains: (1) Biology of Coma, (2) Coma Database, (3) Neuroprognostication, (4) Care of Comatose Patients, (5) Early Clinical Trials, and (6) Long-term Recovery.…”

The Curing Coma Campaign and the Future of Coma Research

“…A key effort has been the collaboration with NIH/NINDS regarding multiple efforts including CDEs and focused scientific symposia. [58] In fact, two NCS-NINDS co-sponsored symposia have provided key insights into the current state and future research directions. Importantly these symposia have highlighted the importance of cultivating both the science of curing coma research and the community of curing coma collaborators and advocates to implement new findings.…”

Classifying Disorders of Consciousness: Past, Present, and Future

“…This situation is likely to evolve, since major international initiatives are ongoing to advance the science and care of patients with coma and other disorders of consicousness. 27,28 Disorders of consciousness: clinical phenotypes Disorders of consciousness are currently classified in three categories: coma, VS/UWS, and MCS.…”

“…The endotype concept, which represents, arguably, the most promising recent conceptual advance in disease classification, must be further explored and validated in this population. 26,28 Diagnostic techniques will need to be sophisticated enough to accurately characterize brain states and also highly pragmatic in that they can be implemented in a diverse range of settings. An urgent priority is to identify and validate robust markers of CMD.…”