title: Early experiences with tachycardia-triggered vagus nerve stimulation using the AspireSR stimulator.
abstract: Many epilepsy patients treated with vagus nerve stimulation additionally use an "on-demand" function, triggering an extra stimulation to terminate a seizure or diminish its severity. Nevertheless, a substantial number of patients are not able to actively trigger stimulations by use of a magnet, due to the absence of an aura or inability for voluntary actions in the early phase of a seizure. To address this need, a novel implantable pulse generator, the AspireSR VNS system, was developed to provide automated ictal stimulation triggered by a seizure-detecting algorithm. We report our experience with three patients in assessing the functionality of ictal stimulation, illustrating the detection system in practice. Detection of ictal tachycardia and variable additional detections of physiological tachycardia depended on the individual seizure-detecting algorithm settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre for Refractory Epilepsy, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Riëm
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: El Tahry
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Centre, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medecine, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre for Refractory Epilepsy, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kenou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Van Rijckevorsel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre for Refractory Epilepsy, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Susana Ferrao
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre for Refractory Epilepsy, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Tourtchaninoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rooijakkers
authors.affiliation: Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medecine, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coenen
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Centre, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medecine, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulze-Bonhage
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013610:Tachycardia; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055536:Vagus Nerve Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: closed-loop stimulation; ictal tachycardia; refractory epilepsy; vagus nerve stimulation