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Updated: May 2, 2026
Author Spotlight: Exploring the Effects of Transauricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Published on: January 19, 2024
Effect of noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation on acute migraine: an open-label pilot study
P J Goadsby1, B M Grosberg2, A Mauskop3
1Headache Group-Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA Headache Group, NIHR-Wellcome Clinical Research Facility, King's College London, UK peter.goadsby@kcl.ac.uk.
Background:
We sought to assess a novel, noninvasive, portable vagal nerve stimulator (nVNS) for acute treatment of migraine.
Methods:
Participants with migraine with or without aura were eligible for an open-label, single-arm, multiple-attack study. Up to four migraine attacks were treated with two 90-second doses, at 15-minute intervals delivered to the right cervical branch of the vagus nerve within a six-week time period. Subjects were asked to self-treat at moderate or severe pain, or after 20 minutes of mild pain.
Results:
Of 30 enrolled patients (25 females, five males, median age 39), two treated no attacks, and one treated aura only, leaving a Full Analysis Set of 27 treating 80 attacks with pain. An adverse event was reported in 13 patients, notably: neck twitching (n = 1), raspy voice (n = 1) and redness at the device site (n = 1). No unanticipated, serious or severe adverse events were reported. The pain-free rate at two hours was four of 19 (21%) for the first treated attack with a moderate or severe headache at baseline. For all moderate or severe attacks at baseline, the pain-free rate was 12/54 (22%).
Conclusions:
nVNS may be an effective and well-tolerated acute treatment for migraine in certain patients.
