Project Grant R01NS150580

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health, awarded Vanderbilt University Medical Center $711,408 on August 15, 2026, under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders program (CFDA 93.853).

The project, "Phenotypes and Endotypes of Recovery from Acute Disorders of Consciousness," pursues multimodal neurobiological prediction of recovery outcomes in patients with acute disorders of consciousness admitted to six intensive care units at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The research integrates behavioral phenotypes, blood biomarkers, neuroimaging, and electroencephalographic endotypes as quantitative metrics to predict recovery of communication as the primary outcome. Three aims structure the work: acute phenotype identification within one week of injury, longitudinal outcome prediction using integrated biomarkers, and development of communication-recovery predictors to inform patient-centered clinical decision-making in settings of high prognostic uncertainty around life-sustaining treatment withdrawal.

Performance occurs in Forest Hills, Tennessee, over a period extending from August 15, 2026, through April 30, 2031. Patients are followed longitudinally with a comprehensive remote outcome battery. The project addresses the clinical gap in which up to 80 percent of in-hospital deaths among acute disorders of consciousness patients follow withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, yet approximately 40 percent of those who died after such withdrawal may have survived and regained functional independence within six months, suggesting substantial prognostic misclassification in current clinical practice.