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Previous Volume 333:130 July 13, 1995 Number 2 Next

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To the Editor: We wish to correct data related to the long-term survival of patients in the persistent vegetative state. In our report,¹ estimates of the long-term survival of such patients were based on data from four published series.^2,3,4,5 The number of patients (251) and the cumulative three-year (82 percent) and five-year (95 percent) mortality rates were miscalculated. The correct number of patients is 267, with mortality rates of 70 percent at three years and 84 percent at five years. We do not believe that this error changes the meaning or interpretation of any of the statements in the section on survival or in the report as a whole.

Stephen Ashwal, M.D.
Ron Cranford, M.D.
Minneapolis, MN 55414

for the Multi-Society Task Force on PVS

References

1. The Multi-Society Task Force on PVS. Medical aspects of the persistent vegetative state. N Engl J Med 1994;330:1572-1579. [Free Full Text]
2. Higashi K, Hatano M, Abiko S, et al. Five-year follow-up study of patients with persistent vegetative state. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1981;44:552-554. [Free Full Text]
3. Minderhoud JM, Braakman R. Het vegeterende bestaan. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1985;129:2385-2388. [Medline]
4. Sazbon L, Groswasser Z. Medical complications and mortality of patients in the postcomatose unawareness (PC-U) state. Acta Neurochir (Wien) 1991;112:110-112. [Medline]
5. Sazbon L, Zagreba F, Ronen J, Solzi P, Costeff H. Course and outcome of patients in vegetative state of nontraumatic aetiology. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1993;56:407-409. [Free Full Text]

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