Principal Investigator: mgr Krzysztof Gociewicz

1.Research project objectives/Research hypothesis. The main objective of this project is to develop a method, utilizing the latest advances in the analysis of thenetworks in the brain, able to distinguish the level of consciousness of patients with so-called disorders ofconsciousness (DOC). The most important goal is to create a method that will accurately distinguishindividuals in unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS; formerly vegetative state) and patients remainingin minimally conscious state (MCS) and healthy controls. Performed analysis will focus on organization andabnormalities of structural and functional networks. As the second objective project also aims to obtain newknowledge about the neural substrates of DOC. 2.Research project methodology. Understanding why some brain damages result in a impairments of consciousness will allow, withunavailable today certainty, to determine which patient after severe brain injury is really conscious, in spiteof the absence of external signs of awareness. Current research emphasizes the prevalence of connectivitydisturbances in structural and functional networks, mainly in areas of the brain recognized to be important information of consciousness (frontoparietal network and thalamocortical connections). This project makes useof the achievements in the field of research on DOC and proposes innovative use of methods developed inthe context of the research on the so-called connectome (i.e. the "map" of connections in the brain) andadvanced methods of statistical analysis. Use of graph theoretical analysis to determine the organization ofthe structural and functional networks and the creation of a number of graph theoretical measures describingthe properties of this organization is planned. These metrics will be then analyzed using the method ofmultivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), allowing for efficient assignment of cases to different categories at theindividual level. 3.Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society. Assessment of the level of consciousness in people after severe brain injury is a challenge. Particularlydifficult is the diagnosis of UWS, in which the patient despite waking from a coma does not show any overtsigns of consciousness. However, no sign of intentional behavior may be the result of severe motordysfunction. Therefore, the level of misdiagnosis is as high as over 40%. Misdiagnosis, in turn, affects suchan important decisions as the decision whether to continue sustaining alive or prognosis of recovery. Findingan accurate diagnostic method is therefore very important.Despite numerous studies in the field of research on DOC, holistic attempts to use information from multiplemodalities in a complementary manner are still lacking. Therefore, this project focuses on the combined useof measures of organization of both structural and functional networks which will be then used in furtheranalysis allowing use of a full spectrum of available information. Using MVPA method, will result in highlevel of accuracy of classification at the individual level. The proposed methodology is an innovative attemptto study the neural substrates of DOC, which will provide a more complete picture of brain damage causingthose disorders. The results obtained in the framework of this project will also shed new light on thestructural and functional architecture underlying conscious processing.