NCS Event Calendar

Over the past decade, it has become clear that a significant number of behaviourally unresponsive patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) are covertly conscious, as shown by complex and/or voluntary cortical response patterns. The realisation that behaviourally unresponsive patients are not necessarily unconscious changes the way brain-injured and critically ill patients must be assessed and treated, and how families are counselled. This Challenge Workshop will focus on the latest advances in detecting and managing covert consciousness in both ICU and sub-acute settings, supporting functional recovery through pharmacological or neurotechnological interventions, restoring communication via brain-machine interfaces, and navigating ethical implications, such as communication with families and loved ones, implications for withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST), and controlled donation after circulatory death. The primary audience includes neurologists, intensivists, neuroscientists, allied health professionals, ethicists, and technologists.