In Reply.—The comments by Fackler et al regarding the terminology of surgical débridement were well received. We agree that our use of the term surgical débridement may indeed be confusing. In our study we defined débridement as surgical excision of devitalized/contaminated tissue and not simply wound incision. Our excision of tissue was extended to healthy adjacent tissue.
In Other AMA Journals ARCHIVES OF NEUROLOGY Vegetative State After Closed-Head Injury: A Traumatic Coma Data Bank Report Harvey S. Levin, PhD; Christy Saydjari; Howard M. Eisenberg, MD; Mary Foulkes, PhD; Lawrence F. Marshall, MD; Ronald M. Ruff, PhD; John A. Jane, MD; Anthony Marmarou, PhD To elucidate the clinical course of the vegetative state after severe closed-head injury, the Traumatic Coma Data Bank was analyzed for outcome at the time of discharge from the hospital and after follow-up intervals ranging up to 3 years after injury. Of 650 patients with