Comparison of traditional and closed loop vagus nerve stimulation for treatment of pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy: A propensity-matched retrospective cohort study

Pediatric
Written By Rodrigo Silva

Muthiah N, Akwayena E, Vodovotz L, Sharma N, Jeong JH, White GE, Abel TJ.

Seizure. 2022 Jan;94:74-81.
doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2021.11.016.

Check out this retrospective study by Muthial et al. (Jan 2022) for comparing the effectiveness of closed-loop vagus nerve stimulation (#VNS) to traditional VNS for pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (#DRE).

At a 2-year follow-up, the closed-loop VNS patients (N= 41) showed a slightly higher responder rate* (62%) compared to the traditional VNS patients (N= 179, 48%). 

Noteworthy, patients with generalized epilepsy showed a higher responder rate (73%) for the closed-loop VNS compared to those with focal epilepsy (46%, p=0.10).

*Defined as a ≥50% seizure frequency reduction.


Rodrigo Silva
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Vagus nerve stimulation for refractory posttraumatic epilepsy: Efficacy and predictors of seizure outcome