The minimally conscious state

To establish consensus recommendations among health care specialties for defining and establishing diagnostic criteria for the minimally conscious state (MCS).

There is a subgroup of patients with severe alteration in consciousness who do not meet diagnostic criteria for coma or the vegetative state (VS). These patients demonstrate inconsistent but discernible evidence of consciousness. It is important to distinguish patients in MCS from those in coma and VS because preliminary findings suggest that there are meaningful differences in outcome.