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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
Vagus Nerve Stimulation As an Adjunctive Neurostimulation Tool in Treatment-resistant Depression
Published on: January 7, 2019
[Retrospective analysis of the effect of a vagus nerve stimulator implanted in paediatric patients with refractory
P Fuentes-Pita1, C Gomez-Lado1, D Dacruz2
1Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Espana.
Introduction:
The vagus nerve stimulator is a therapeutic alternative in patients with epilepsy which is refractory to treatment with antiepileptic drugs that are not candidates for surgical resection.
Aim:
To analyse the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulator in the paediatric patients of our centre.
Patients And Methods:
Set of 13 patients implanted between 2008 y 2013. It was registered the frequency of crises prior to implantation, after a year and at the end of the monitoring period. As well, it was recorded the number of antiepileptic drugs used and in a qualitative way the behavioural improvement and the change in the intensity of the crises, besides the apparition of secondary effects and the removal or not of the device.
Results:
After a year, two years and at the end of the monitoring period it has been a fall in the number of crises about of 61%, 66.7% y 69% respectively, finding one patient free of crises after two years. At the end of the monitoring period, the 23% of those who had reduced their crises had experimented a reduction over 90%. Independently the effect on the number of crises, 77% of the patients presented an improvement in the intensity and the length of the crises, the same average showed a behavioural improvement. The secondary effects appeared in a 30.7% of the patients, being of mild intensity.
Conclusions:
Despite the small size of our sample, our results shows that the vagus nerve stimulator has a relevant efficacy over the pediatric drug resistant population, as much in the frequency and intensity of the crises, as over the behaviour.
