New Imaging Technology Used on a Man in a 23-year Coma

Rom Houben, who was an engineering student in Belguim, had a near-fatal car crash 23 years ago. He was assessed using the internationally accepted coma scale, which measures eye, motor, and verbal responses to stimuli. These tests showed no response, and therefore he was assumed to be in a vegetative state.

New state-of-the-art CT imaging at the University of Leige in Belguim revealed that the entire 23 years he was apparently in a come, he could actually understand everything that was going on around him. The article says he could hear everything that was said, but was unable to control his body to make any kind of physical response. Thanks to the use of this imaging, he is now able to communicate by tapping out messages, and can even read books from a screen located above his head.

There has been much public debate about the risks of CT imaging in terms of exposure to radiation. In this case it is entirely obvious that medical imaging has essentially saved a man’s life. This article is very recent, and interestingly has not received much press in the United States, where most of the press seems to be concerned with the risks of medical imaging.

The implications of this case are very big indeed. Dr. Laureys from the Coma Science Group was responsible for the imaging done on Rom, and said that in Germany alone there are 3-5 thousand people who are trapped in an intermediary coma state. This means that by using imaging technology, thousands of people could be found to actually be communicative; they are essentially alive. The other implication is that this will spark up the ‘right to die’ debate. People who are thought to be lost to a coma may actually still be there, and allowing them the right to die could be a horrible mistake. All of this is the result of new CT scan technology.