Coma

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Summary

A coma is a deep state of unconsciousness. An individual in a coma is alive but unable to move or respond to his or her environment. Coma may occur as a complication of an underlying illness, or as a result of injuries, such as brain injury.

A coma rarely lasts more than 2 to 4 weeks. The outcome for coma depends on the cause, severity, and site of the damage. People may come out of a coma with physical, intellectual, and psychological problems. Some people may remain in a coma for years or even decades. For those people, the most common cause of death is infection, such as pneumonia.

NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Start Here

• Stupor and Coma (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Locked-In Syndrome (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Diabetic Coma (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Coma (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Persistent Vegetative State (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Potassium disorders at intensive care unit admission and functional outcomes after...
• Article: Validation to Brazilian Portuguese of the coma recovery scale-revised.
• Article: Drug therapy versus placebo or usual care for comatose survivors of...
• Coma -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Cerebral Hypoxia (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Also in Spanish
• Coma (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

• American Academy of Neurology
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• EEG (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish