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This report identifies evidence of partially functional cerebral regions in catastrophically injured brains. To study five patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) with different behavioural features, we employed [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose‐positron emission tomography (FDG‐PET), MRI and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) responses to sensory stimulation. Each patient’s brain expressed a unique metabolic pattern. In three of the five patients, co‐registered PET/MRI correlate islands of relatively preserved brain metabolism with isolated fragments of behaviour. Two patients had suffered anoxic injuries and demonstrated marked decreases in overall cerebral metabolism to 30–40% of normal. Two other patients with non‐anoxic, multifocal brain injuries demonstrated several isolated brain regions with relatively higher metabolic rates, that ranged up to 50–80% of normal. Nevertheless, their global metabolic …