Vagus nerve stimulation: Longitudinal follow-up patients treated for 5 years.
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Seizure |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seizure.2008.10.012 |
| Field | Neurology, neurosurgery, neurosciences |
| Keywords | vagus nerve stimulation; efficacy; long-term outcome; comlications |
| Description | We performed a retrospective, multicenter, open-label study to evaluate the efficacy Of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in all patients in the Czech Republic who have received this treatment for at least 5 years (n = 90). The mean last follow-up was 6.6 +/- 1.1 years (79 +/- 13 months). The median number of seizures among all patients decreased from 41.2 seizures/month in the prestimulation period to 14.9 seizures/month at 5 years follow-up visit. The mean percentage of seizure reduction was 55.9%. The responder rate in these patients is in concordance with the decrease of overall seizure frequency. At 1 year after beginning the stimulation, 44.4% of patients were responders; this percentage increased to 58.7% after 2 years. At the 5 years last follow-up 64.4% of patients were responders, 15.5% experienced >= 90% seizure reduction, and 5.5% were seizure-free. A separate analysis of patients younger than 16 years of age showed lower efficacy rates of VNS in comparison to the whole group. Complications and chronic adverse effects occurred in 13.3% of patients. VNS is an effective and safe method to refractory epilepsy in common clinical practice. |