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Vagus Nerve Stimulation

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Epilepsy

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Abstract

In a recent paper (Nei et al. 2006), vagus nerve stimulation was assessed in terms of efficacy and safety as compared to corpus callosotomy. Results showed that although corpus callosotomy was more effective for generalized tonic clonic seizures and for atonic seizures, the risks and complications excelled those of vagus nerve ­stimulation by a significant margin. The much lesser invasiveness of vagus nerve stimulation would suggest that in cases in which invasive surgery is not an option, vagus nerve stimulation might be indicated. Complications in the above paper listed infections and a defective battery for vagus nerve stimulation. Complications of corpus callosotomy included death, ataxia, hemiparesis, infection, etc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Chicago Medical School Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago, IL, USA

    David W. McCandless

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  1. David W. McCandless
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McCandless, D.W. (2012). Vagus Nerve Stimulation. In: Epilepsy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0361-6_33

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