This volume encompasses a variety of topics pertaining to patients with altered levels of consciousness, including valuable differences between disorders. Neurologists, researchers, and clinicians will find a comprehensive accounting of the distinctions between disorders that cause these altered states. Beginning with basic concepts of consciousness and neurobiology, this handbook progresses into more targeted and complex areas of discussion, including important technological advancements that have occurred in neuroimaging. Neurologists who are frequently called upon for prognostication and to guide management of patients with these disorders will find invaluable information, including chapters discussing comatose states in children and pregnant women, encephalopathic patients, nutrition disorders, and vegetative and minimally conscious states. In addition, chapters devoted to philosophical backgrounds and ethical implications involving patients with impaired consciousness, are thoroughly presented.