Dr. Edilson Arruda, Department of Decision Analytics and Risk, Southampton Business School, University of Southampton.

Partner: NHS Southwest Regional Paediatric Neuroscience Centre at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

Children and young people who sustain severe acquired brain injury often present to hospital in coma. Generally, they experience stages of reduced awareness up to full recovery. Some of them, however, develop a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness (PDOC). Currently, inability to predict the outcome of individual patients hinders the early use of novel pharmacological and surgical treatments aimed at improving neuronal connectivity, which have been proposed for patients with PDOC. This project will develop the necessary predictive capacity to allow early identification of patients who could benefit from PDOC treatments, to enable targeted intervention via personalised care.