Differential Diagnosis and Management of Incomplete Locked-In Syndrome after Traumatic Brain Injury

Table 3

Differential diagnosis: acute onset of quadriplegia and mutism.

Diagnoses considered		Key finding to rule out
Disorder of consciousness		Assessment revealing patient wakefulness and ability to communicate via eye gaze	✕
	↓
Upper cervical spinal cord injury		Observation of normal, quiet respiration and impairment of supraspinal muscles	✕
	↓
Akinetic mutism		Lack of automatic protective extension/equilibrium reactions and no withdrawal to pain	✕
	↓
Locked-in syndrome		Primary suspected diagnosis by exclusion of other likely diagnoses	✓