Proceedings of the First Curing Coma Campaign NIH Symposium: Challenging the Future of Research for Coma and Disorders of Consciousness
Jan Claassen, Yama Akbari, Sheila Alexander, Mary Kay Bader, Kathleen Bell, Thomas P. Bleck, Mélanie Boly, Jeremy Brown, Sherry Chou, Michael N. Diringer, Brian L. Edlow, Brandon Foreman, Joseph T. Giacino, Olivia Gosseries, Theresa Green, David M. Greer, Daniel F. Hanley, Jed A. Hartings, Raimund Helbok, J. Claude Hemphill, Holly E. Hinson, Karen G. Hirsch, Theresa Human, Michael L. James, Nerissa Ko, Daniel Kondziella, Sarah Livesay, Lori Madden, Shraddha Mainali, Stephan A. Mayer, Victoria McCredie, Molly McNett, Geert Meyfroidt, Martin M. Monti, Susanne Muehlschlegel, Santosh B. Murthy, Paul Nyquist, DaiWai M. Olson, J. Javier Provencio, Eric S. Rosenthal, Gisele Sampaio Silva, Simone Sarasso, Nicholas D. Schiff, Tarek Sharshar, Lori Shutter, Robert D. Stevens, Paul Vespa, Walter Videtta, Amy K. Wagner, Wendy Ziai, John Whyte, Elizabeth Zink, José I. Suárez, the Curing Coma Campaign
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.