Author Response: A Focus on Subtle Signs and Motor Behavior to Unveil Awareness in Unresponsive Brain-Impaired Patients: The Importance of Being Clinical.

We would like to clarify a few aspects of our approach1 and thank Prof. Machado for referring to his previously published article.2 The boy described was probably experiencing a true disorder of consciousness due to his decorticate posturing, suggesting bilateral (sub)cortical destruction with disinhibition of the red nuclei. This must be correlated with structural MRI, which would likely show substantial atrophy after hypoxia-induced cortical laminar necrosis. Imaging is important to exclude strategic brainstem lesions.