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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Implantation Surgery for Abdominal Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Recording Studies in Awake Rats
Published on: January 19, 2024
Vagus nerve stimulation might have a unique effect in reflex eating seizures
Arthur Cukiert1, Pedro Paulo Mariani, Jose Augusto Burattini
1Epilepsy Surgery Program, Hospital Brigadeiro, São Paulo, Brazil. acukiert@uol.com.br
Abstract:
We studied the effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on eating seizures, which theoretically would be triggered by neural activity and signaling from organs innervated by the vagus nerve. Three adult patients with daily nonreflex and reflex eating seizures were studied; one patient also had hot-water seizures. One patient had bilateral polymicrogyria and two had normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. All patients were submitted to VNS implantation and had at least 2 years of postimplantation follow-up. Final stimulation parameters were 2.0-2.5 mA, 500 micros, and 30 Hz. Eating seizures decreased 70-95% and nonreflex seizures decreased 0-40% after VNS. There was no improvement in hot-water seizures. VNS seems to be an especially useful treatment modality in patients with reflex eating seizures not amenable to resective surgery.
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