http://www.theage.com.au/world/belgian-man-rescued-from-a-23year-coma-20091123-ixhh.html
Belgian man rescued from a 23-year 'coma' ALLAN HALL, BERLIN November 24, 2009 A BELGIAN man diagnosed as being in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time. Rom Houben was simply paralysed, but had no way to let doctors caring for him know what he was suffering. ''I dreamt myself away,'' says Mr Houben, now 46, who was misdiagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state after a car crash. Doctors and nurses in Zolder, about 80 kilometres from Brussels, deemed him a hopeless case, with his consciousness ''extinct''. The former martial arts enthusiast and engineering student was paralysed after a car crash in 1983. He was finally correctly diagnosed three years ago and his case has just come to light in a scientific paper released by the man who ''saved'' him. Doctors treating him regularly examined him using the worldwide Glasgow Coma Scale, which judges a patient according to eye, verbal and motor responses. During every examination he was graded incorrectly, so he suffered in silence, unable to communicate that he was awake and aware to his parents, his carers or friends who came to his bedside. Only through the re-evaluation of his case at the University of Liege did it come to light that Mr Houben was only paralysed all these years. High-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost normally. Therapy has now enabled him to tap out messages on a computer screen and he has a special device above his bed enabling him to read books while lying down. When he woke after the accident, he had lost control of his body. ''I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,'' he says. ''I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with me until they gave up all hope. ''I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth. All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt.'' Neurologist Steven Laureys, who led the re-examination of Mr Houben, published a study two months ago claiming ''vegetative state'' patients were often misdiagnosed. ''Anyone who bears the stamp of 'unconscious' just one time hardly ever gets rid of it again,'' he said. Dr Laureys, who leads the Coma Science Group at Liege University Hospital, discovered how Mr Houben's brain was still working using state-of-the-art imaging. He intends to use the case to highlight what he considers may be many more similar examples of misdiagnosis around the world. ''I want to read books, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now,'' said Mr Houben, who remains in constant care.
