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HEStaff exchange2024–2027

DOC-BOX · Development of a multimodal toolbox to ensure a fast and reliable diagnosis of consciousness disorders

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2024-01-01 → 2027-12-31
EU contribution
€1,099,400
Participants
17
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Development of a multimodal toolbox to ensure a fast and reliable diagnosis of consciousness disorders

Disorders of consciousness (DOC) remain one of the most challenging conditions to assess and diagnose in modern clinical practice. Despite major advances in neuroscience, many patients emerging from coma continue to be misdiagnosed due to the limited sensitivity of existing bedside assessments, the complexity of neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques, and the strict time constraints in hospital environments. This diagnostic uncertainty has profound consequences—not only for clinical management and rehabilitation planning, but also for families and caregivers who rely on accurate prognostic information to make critical decisions. DOC-BOX responds directly to these clinical, societal, and strategic needs by developing a comprehensive, fast, and easy‑to‑implement toolbox for evaluating consciousness. The project integrates behavioural, neuroimaging, and neurophysiological approaches into a set of standardized tools specifically adapted to real‑world clinical constraints. By offering methods that can be deployed rapidly at the bedside and in routine workflows in all clinical environments, DOC-BOX aims to significantly reduce misdiagnosis rates and improve the quality of care for this highly vulnerable population. By combining diverse data sources, disciplines, and stakeholder perspectives, the project is expected to produce evidence‑based guidelines and policy recommendations that will influence clinical standards at a European and international level. Its large‑scale, interdisciplinary data collection will also substantially advance scientific understanding of consciousness and its disorders. Overall, DOC-BOX aims not only to improve diagnostic accuracy, but also to lay the foundations for better long‑term care, more equitable access to advanced assessment tools, and a stronger alignment between scientific innovation and clinical reality. The anticipated impact—ranging from improved patient outcomes to strategic contributions to European health policy—positions the project as a major step forward in the field of DoC.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

DoCBox aims to develop a new toolbox of fast and easy-to-implement behavioural, neuroimaging and neurophysiological assessments to accurately assess and diagnose patients suffering from a disorder of consciousness (DoC), allowing for a more comprehensive examination and better management of this vulnerable population. This toolbox will respond to the society needs regarding the evaluation of patients with DoC as it appropriately responds to the rigid time constraints of clinical settings, which are one of the biggest limitations for an accurate diagnosis. This project aims to enhance interdisciplinary research on DoC via an exchange of knowledge and international scientific cooperation to translate and validate the tools (e.g., behavioral scales, pipelines) that will be included in this toolbox. This collaboration between the partners underpins the credibility and feasibility of three research objectives:1) Provide new bedside assessment tools to refine and optimize the detection of consciousness signs in post-comatose patients; 2) Identify the most accurate neurophysiological and neuroimaging biomarkers of consciousness states and develop novel easy-to-use software to implement these analyses in clinical settings; 3) Engage informal and formal caregivers in the diagnosis of DoC patients.This will ultimately result in guidelines and policy recommendations for improvement of DoC patients’ diagnosis and thus care. The proposed exchange program aims to bring together a large international and interdisciplinary consortium of 17 partners (EU and non-EU countries) including researchers and other professionals with all necessary skills, permitting to tackle the challenges faced by professionals when studying and caring for DoC patients. The benefits for Europe are the intersector and interdisciplinary massive data collected by this consortium, which will allow a major progress in the understanding of (disorders of) consciousness.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE · LIEGECoordinatorBelgium
  • CENTRE DE REEDUCATION FONCTIONNELLE DE FONTFROIDE · MONTPELLIERFrance
  • CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE DE RENNES · Rennes Cedex 9France
  • FONDAZIONE DON CARLO GNOCCHI ETS · MilanoItaly
  • FONDAZIONE IRCCS ISTITUTO NEUROLOGICO CARLO BESTA · MILANOItaly
  • FUNDACION UNIVERSIDAD LOYOLA ANDALUCIA · Dos Hermanas, SevillaSpain
  • G.TEC MEDICAL ENGINEERING GMBH · SCHIEDLBERGAustria
  • GEMEINNUETZIGE GESELLSCHAFT ZUR NEUROLOGISCHEN REHABILITATION NACH ERWORBENEN CEREBRALEN SCHADEN MBH · BurgauGermany
  • INSTITUT DU CERVEAU ET DE LA MOELLE EPINIERE · ParisFrance
  • IRENEA NEURO-RHB SOCIEDAD LIMITADA · ValenciaSpain
  • KLINIKEN SCHMIEDER (STIFTUNG & CO) KG · GAILINGEN AM HOCHRHEINGermany
  • STICHTING MEDISCH SPECTRUM TWENTE · EnschedeNetherlands
  • STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM · NijmegenNetherlands
  • THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · BirminghamUnited Kingdom
  • UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA · ValenciaSpain
  • UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM AUGSBURG · AUGSBURGGermany
  • UNIWERSYTET JAGIELLONSKI · KrakowPoland

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union