Christine Simpson's husband Colin believes the scan proves she is conscious
A woman who has been in a vegetative state for five years following a stroke may be aware of what is going on around her, a new brain-scanning method has revealed.
When doctors at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge suggested 58-year-old mother-of-two Christine Simpson might be a good candidate for a specialised MRI scan called fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) as part of a large study, her husband Colin had no hesitations.
Right from the beginning, he has believed that Christine is aware and able to move her eyes up and down to correspond with yes and no, although doctors treating her had told him this was not the case.
"These doctors at Cambridge seem to care what happens to people like Christine - they are believers, " said Colin.
"These people need to be able to communicate their wishes, their understandings and their thoughts."
 |   Our family is devastated by everything we've been through  Colin Simpson |
In this way "yes" and "no" answers can be given to the doctors' questions.
Colin said: "Christine was asked a series of questions and was able to imagine walking through her house.
"She couldn't do the playing tennis bit, but the fact that she followed the other commands proves what we knew, she is aware of what's going on.
"What all these patients need is stimulation because some of them do come out of this state.
"It takes time and lots of stimulation but the scan results show that it's worth doing.
"The main problem is that it destroys families, our family is devastated by everything we've been through.
"One of my sons doesn't speak to me now. When something like this happens everyone reacts differently and people want to find someone to blame.
| If you think there's some consciousness and awareness of their environment, it becomes 'Oh, my God, he's trapped inside a nightmare' Dr Richard Burton, Mt Zion Hospital, San Francisco |
Christine Simpson's scan was carried out by Dr Adrian Owen from the Medical Research Council in Cambridge.
His team, together with researchers in Belgium, scanned 54 patients who had been comatose with severe brain injuries.
Five of the patients, including Christine, were able to modulate their brain activities in a way that was perceptible to the scanners and interpreted as a response by the examiners.
"Getting patients like Christine to use parts of their brain to answer yes and no does shows an ability to follow commands," Dr Owen said.
"It shows us that brain-imaging can provide something in addition to clinical or bedside evaluation.
"In this case it told us that a patient that looked vegetative clinically was in fact entirely aware.
"It's important to stress that this will be a minority of patients, it doesn't mean that all vegetative patients are aware but it does mean that we are now able to detect those that are."
Medical scepticism
Not all doctors are convinced by the study's results so far.
Dr Richard Burton from the neurology department at Mt Zion Hospital in San Francisco questioned the nature of consciousness achieved by patients like Christine.
He urged against reading too much in to the findings as he said there was still so much that remains unknown about what thought processes, if any, are actually taking place.
"When you look at the fMRI scans like this you can say what areas are active but you don't know how this corresponds to the behaviour without talking to them.
"For loved ones, I don't know what I'd want to hear.
"If you had someone who you thought was completely unconscious, you could say 'at least they are out of their misery'.
|  Both I and the psychologists... have asked Christine whether she would prefer to die and she has indicated, with her eyes, that she would Colin Simpson |
"This is the worst possible scenario as each family member has different thoughts on what should happen."
Christine is now looked after at a centre in Hertfordshire. Colin visits every day and takes her home at weekends.
But she needs round-the-clock care and, with no signs of any progress in her condition, Colin wonders where the latest findings actually take them.
"There's a huge debate about what to do with these patients," he said.
"I don't know if I should say this but today, after five years, I actually think it probably would have been better if Christine had died, because we don't get any help. We're not moving forward.
"The problem is the way that's done. In some cases they withdraw food and water but that is such a cruel thing to do. To let them starve to death, it is cruel.
"Both I and the psychologists that come here have asked Christine whether she would prefer to die and she has indicated, with her eyes, that she would.
"It's a dilemma. You could ask, is she actually in her right mind to make that kind of decision?
"The decision would have to be made for her, but who can make the decision?"
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