Mismatch negativity analysis in drug-resistant epileptic patients implanted with vagus nerve stimulator

It is well known that some epileptic patients does not respond to conventional treatments, despite multiple combination of antiepileptic drugs, and they are therefore considered drug-resistant. For these patients, vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) represents a successful alternative to traditional therapy, and it is generally well tolerated; beside benefits on seizure frequency, VNS showed positive effects on cognition and mood. Aim of this study was to investigate short-term memory changes in a group of 12 patients implanted with VNS, through Mismatch Negativity wave (MMN). After 1 year of follow-up, MMN latencies and amplitudes did not show significant changes following VNS implantation, independently on current intensity, as compared with pre-implantation values. In two patients, MMN values, which were abnormal before VNS implantation, showed a major reduction in latency and an increase in amplitude after implantation, suggesting a likely positive effect of VNS on pre-attentive processes investigated by MMN.