Established in 2010, International Vegetative State and Consciousness Science Institute has been dedicated to the clinical research of disturbance of consciousness and exploring the management mode of patients with consciousness disorder in China. In 2015, “vegetative state research” has become an important development direction of the medical college of the university.
The institute ranks among top in international consciousness disorder research. The innovative indexes for clinical assessment consciousness disorder suggested by the institute include: (1) Imaging diagnosis mode: establish call-by-name imaging mode (2007, 2008a, 2015), interactive mode based on EEG (2008b), the functional image interactive mode (2016); (2) Routine diagnosis: establish call-by-name auditory localization mode (2013), establish visual positioning mode (2014), establish sinicized coma recovery scale (2017). The therapies of disturbance of consciousness proposed by the institute include: SSP procedure (2013) and tDCS procedure (2017). We participated in drafting of the clinical standards for international disturbance of consciousness as the second unit (the only unit in China) and published more than 20 scientific articles on the disturbance of consciousness.
The institute received supports from more than scientific research funds, including National Natural Science Fund (3), 863 Program (in cooperation with Xuanwu Hospital), and Major Sino-foreign Cooperative Projects and EU Fund of Zhejiang Province Department of Science and Technology. The institute has established long-term cooperative relationship with Coma Science Group of University of Liege in Belgium led by ASSC Chairman Professor Laureys. In 2015, the institute signed tDCS Awakening Clinical Study Agreement with the king of Belgium during his state visit to China.
The institute is the deputy co-chairman and secretary-general unit of China Disturbance of Consciousness Guild. While continuing with research on the vegetative state and science of consciousness, the institute will further improve the application level to better service the patients with disturbance of consciousness.
