Brain-Computer Interfaces for Awareness Detection, Auxiliary Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Rehabilitation in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness

Abstract

In recent years, neuroimaging studies have remarkably demonstrated the presence of cognitive motor dissociation in patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC). These findings accelerated the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) as clinical tools for behaviorally unresponsive patients. This article reviews the recent progress of BCIs in patients with DoC and discusses the open challenges. In view of the practical application of BCIs in patients with DoC, four aspects of the relevant literature are introduced: Consciousness detection, auxiliary diagnosis, prognosis, and rehabilitation. For each aspect, the paradigm design, brain signal processing methods, and experimental results of representative BCI systems are analyzed. Furthermore, this article provides guidance for BCI design for patients with DoC and discusses practical challenges for future research.