A brief timeline of important milestones in the development of CASBI:
2019
Publication from large multi-center collaboration including many of the teams organized under the James S. McDonnell Foundation Large Project grant “Collaborative study of recovery of consciousness after severe brain injury”. This pioneering study demonstrates a robust and reliable measurement linked to conscious awareness in resting states for patients undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. The study is the first to show cross-center consistency of any measure in over 100 patients.
2018
First practice guidelines including minimally conscious state jointly endorsed by the American Academy of Neurology, American Congress for Rehabilitation Medicine, National Institute for Disability and Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. Dr Schiff served as section leader for prognosis and is a principal author of the guidelines; Dr. Fins and Dr. James Bernat wrote the accompanying ethics and policy overview for the publication of the guidelines.
First demonstration of a simple, cost-effective measurement to identify patients with hidden cognition and cognitive motor dissociation.
2016
Demonstration of longitudinal changes in brain structure and function associated with partial restoration of a communication channel over several years. These findings confirm and extend the discoveries of Voss et al. 2006
Science Translational Medicine Article
Journal of Neurophysiology Article
2015
This editorial defines a new categorical term for patients who demonstrate covert cognition using functional magnetic resonance imaging or electrophysiological techniques and related methods but show no or little signs of awareness. The term “cognitive motor dissociation” or “CMD” has now been widely used in the published literature.
2014
First study to demonstrate evidence for change across cerebral metabolism consistent with the mesocircuit hypothesis in patients with varying etiologies of injury.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Abstract
Weill Cornell Medical College Press Release
2013
Publication of landmark paper addressing the experiences of surrogates as decision makers for patients with disorders of consciousness, a major focus of the Ethics Policy Center.
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Abstract
Publication of first study to identify physiological evidence underlying paradoxical response to zolpidem in severely brain injured subjects and link to an underlying mesocircuit mechanism.
2011
First demonstration of use of quantitative electroencephalography to assess cognitive function through motor imagery in subjects with severe brain injury.
Clinical Neurophysiology Article
The Lancet Abstract (2012)
The Lancet Article (2013)
2010
Publication of the mesocircuit model for recovery of consciousness after severe brain injury.
Trends in Neurosciences Article
2007
Landmark study and first demonstration that central thalamic deep brain stimulation could restore consistent communication and improve cognition in chronic minimally conscious state following severe traumatic brain injury, in a subject tested six years after injury.
2006
First demonstration of structural brain changes in late recovery from minimally conscious state.
Journal of Clinical Investigation Article
2005
Publication of the first demonstration that language response networks consistent with those found in healthy control subjects could be identified in minimally conscious state after severe traumatic brain injury.
2003
Publication of landmark paper on neuroethics of imaging and novel interventions with deep brain stimulation in severely brain injured subjects
Nature Reviews Neuroscience Abstract
2002
Publication of case series of residual cerebral function in chronically vegetative patients demonstrating evidence for isolated cerebral functional systems remaining in setting of very severe structural brain injuries
1999
Publication of “Words without mind,” first example of preserved cerebral network and single word production in setting of chronic vegetative state
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience Abstract
1997
Beginning of Fins and Schiff collaboration, submission of first US patent on central thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) for cognitive impairment