Man's brain rewires itself after 19 years in coma

In 2003, Terry Wallis emerged from a coma-like state, the result of a car accident 19 years earlier. Since regaining consciousness, he has been able to form sentences, count to 25, and has even recovered limited use of his limbs.



Researchers examining Wallis' brain found that, while the nerve fibers from the cells were severed, the cells themselves remained intact. Nerve cells that have not died can form new connections, and this is what happened in Wallis' case. Cells in the relatively undamaged areas of his brain had formed new axons, the long nerve fibers that transmit messages between neurons. It may have appeared to be a sudden recovery, but researchers say Wallis' brain had actually been slowly working to reestablish connections during the time he was in a minimally conscious state.


However, doctors caution that this type of a recovery is not possible for everyone in a persistent vegetative state, and they don't know how to make others with less serious damage, like Wallis, recover.



Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurologist who co-authored a commentary that also appears in the journal, said the findings will force doctors to reconsider the way they treat patients who are languishing in minimally conscious and persistent vegetative states.



The research on Terry Wallis was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (July 1, 2006).