Predictors of vagus nerve stimulation complications among pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
Muthiah N, Sharma N, Vodovotz L, White GE, Abel TJ.
J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2022 Jul 8:1-8.
https://doi.org/10.3171/2022.6.PEDS2289
A new publication in Journal of Neurosurgery (JNS) examines predictive factors associated with vagus nerve stimulation (#VNS) complications in pediatric patients (< 21 years old) with drug-resistant epilepsy (#DRE).
This #retrospective study by Muthiah et al. 2022 compared presurgical and surgical characteristics in complication free patients (N=638 procedures) with the clinical factors observed in subjects who developed adverse events (N=48 procedures; 41 major and 7 minor complications) in order to determine #predictors of complications. Furthermore, the association between presurgical factors and infection at implantation site was determined using multivariable poisson regression analysis.
The study identified a significant association between longer surgery durations and minor VNS complications, whereas repeated VNS procedures might be related to a higher incidence of implantation site infection. This emphasizes the need for VNS generators with a higher battery capacity or preferably the development of battery free generators.