Effect of vagus nerve stimulation in post-traumatic epilepsy and failed epilepsy surgery : preliminary report.
OBJECTIVE
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been used in epilepsy patients refractory to standard medical treatments and unsuitable candidates for resective or disconnective surgery. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of VNS to patients who had refractory result to epilepsy surgery and patients with post-traumatic epilepsy.


METHODS
We analyzed the effect of VNS in 11 patients who had undergone previous epilepsy surgery and patients with intractable post-traumatic epilepsy associated with brain injury. All patients underwent VNS implantation between October 2005 and December 2006.


RESULTS
We evaluated seizure frequency before and after implantation of VNS and maximum follow up period was 24 months. In the first 6 months, 11 patients showed an average of 74.3% seizure reduction. After 12 months, 10 patients showed 85.2% seizure reduction. Eighteen months after implantation, 9 patients showed 92.4% seizure reduction and 7 patients showed 97.2% seizure reduction after 24 months. Six patients were seizure-free at this time.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the VNS is a helpful treatment modality in patients with surgically refractory epilepsy and in patients with post-traumatic epilepsy due to severe brain injury.
Lee
Hai-Ong
HO
Department of Neurosurgery, Research Institute for Clinical Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School/ Hospital, Jeonju, Korea.
Koh
Eun-Jeong
EJ
Oh
Young-Min
YM
Park
Seung-Soo
SS
Kwon
Ki-Hun
KH
Choi
Ha-Young
HY