Coma

What is coma?

Coma is the condition where a person is unconscious over a long period of time. Though a coma lasts a rather long time, in most cases it will not last over a couple of weeks, seeing as though that would likely transition it into the patient being completely dead, in a vegetative condition and the brain not being able to function properly ever again. In other words, being brain dead. 

Causes

When it comes to causes for coma there can be various. It's usually a consequence of serious problems, for example brain injuries caused by big accidents like car crashes, strokes and seizures. There are also other triggers that could be more difficult to see coming, for example diabetes being one of them. 

Another possible cause could be drowning and respiratory problems, causing the patient to lose oxygen, importantly to the brain, triggering a coma. There are just some of the possible causes for the coma, there are many possible ones, however, important to note, a coma is a consequence of a serious problem or accident.

Consequences

When it comes to consequences of having been in a coma, it's important to note that many patients recover and wake up from the coma. However, like previously mentioned, some die, enter a vegatitve state, where they can stay in the coma, but will never wake up, in other words, keeping them artificially alive would be, to some extent, meaningless. Others can go on to live with dysfunctions, to various degrees, as a consequence of the coma.

Patients that are in a coma will not react to what is going on around them. Sounds and for example pain will not induce any reaction in the individual.

References:

Weiss, N., Regard, L., Vidal, C., Luque, Y., Taldir, G., Vallet, H., ... & Guerot, E. (2012). Causes of coma and their evolution in the medical intensive care unit. Journal of neurology, 259(7), 1474-1477.

Schmidt, W. U., Ploner, C. J., Lutz, M., Möckel, M., Lindner, T., & Braun, M. (2019). Causes of brain dysfunction in acute coma: a cohort study of 1027 patients in the emergency department. Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 27(1), 1-9.

Edlow, J. A., Rabinstein, A., Traub, S. J., & Wijdicks, E. F. (2014). Diagnosis of reversible causes of coma. The Lancet, 384(9959), 2064-2076.