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EntityQ139720· pop 37· linked from 406 articles

persistent vegetative state

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Also known as PVS, VS, post-coma unresponsiveness, PCU, vegetative state, unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, permanent vegetative state

disorder of consciousness caused by severe brain damage

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Neurology , critical care medicine

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Article

A vegetative state (VS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state, the patient is classified as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). This diagnosis is classified as a permanent vegetative state some months (three in the US and six in the UK) after a non-traumatic brain injury or one year after a traumatic injury. The term unresponsive wakefulness syndrome may be used alternatively, as "vegetative state" has some negative connotations among the public. It is occasionally also called Apallic syndrome or Apallisches syndrome, borrowings from German, primarily in European or older sources.

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