Vagus stimulator

Depression is the most common comorbidity and neuropsychiatric complication in HIV. Estimates suggest that the prevalence rate for depression among HIV-infected individuals is three times that of the general population. The association between HIV and clinical depression is complex; however, chronic activation of inflammatory mechanisms, which disrupt central nervous system (CNS) function, may contribute to this association. Disruptions in CNS function can result in cognitive disorders, social withdrawal, fatigue, apathy, psychomotor impairment, and sleep disturbances, which are common manifestations in depression and HIV alike...

Extinction memories are fragile and their formation has been proposed to partially rely on vagus nerve activity. We tested whether stimulating the auricular branch of the vagus (transcutaneous VNS; tVNS) accelerates extinction and reduces spontaneous recovery of fear. Forty-two healthy students participated in a 3-day fear conditioning study, where we tested fear acquisition (day 1), fear extinction (day 2) and the retention of the extinction memory (day 3). During extinction, participants were randomly allocated to receive tVNS or sham stimulation concurrently with each CS presentation...

BACKGROUND: Despite optimal medical treatment, including epilepsy surgery, many epilepsy patients have uncontrolled seizures. Since the 1970s interest has grown in invasive intracranial neurostimulation as a treatment for these patients. Intracranial stimulation includes both deep brain stimulation (DBS) (stimulation through depth electrodes) and cortical stimulation (subdural electrodes). This is an updated version of a previous Cochrane review published in 2014. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of DBS and cortical stimulation for refractory epilepsy based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs)...

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) induces a positive shift of slow cortical potentials (SCPs) in patients with >50% seizure reduction (responders) but not in non-responders. METHODS: We analyzed routine clinical electroencephalograms (EEGs) from 24 patients who were undergoing seizure treatment by VNS. The patients were divided into 2 groups by hardware time constant (TC) of EEG: the TC 10-s group (10 patients) and TC 2-s group (14 patients)...

OBJECTIVE: Left vagus nerve (LVN) stimulation (LVNS) has been tested for lowering the blood pressure (BP) in patients with resistant hypertension (RH). Whereas, closed-loop LVNS (CL-LVNS) driven by a BP marker may be superior to open-loop LVNS, there are situations (e.g., exercising) when hypertension is normal. Therefore, an ideal anti-RH CL-LVNS system requires a variable to avoid stimulation in such conditions, for example, a respiratory marker ideally extracted from the LVN. As the LVN conducts respiratory signals, this study aimed to investigate if such signals can be recorded using implantable means and if a marker to monitor respiration could be derived from such recordings...

BACKGROUND: The vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an approach mainly used in cases of intractable epilepsy despite all the efforts. Also, its benefits have been shown in severe cases of depression resistant to typical treatment. AIM: The aim of this study was to present current knowledge of vagus nerve stimulation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A new value has emerged just at this stage: VNS aiming the ideal treatment with new hopes. It is based on the placement of a programmable generator on the chest wall...

The ventilatory pattern during sequential swallowing is influenced by the vagal activity. As the vagus nerve is paired and mixed, we aimed (1) to determine if vagal implication in swallowing and breathing coordination is symmetric. (2) to study the importance of vagal afferences in swallowing and breathing coordination. Sixty two Wistar rats (7-11weeks, 260-400g) were studied by barometric plethysmography. In the first part of the study, we determined the effects of a right cervical vagotomy and the effects of a left cervical vagotomy on ventilatory pattern at rest and during sequential swallowing (14 rats with right vagotomy, 14 rats with left vagotomy and 14 rats with sham surgery)...

Changes in photoperiod length are transduced into neuroendocrine signals by melatonin (MEL) secreted by the pineal gland triggering seasonally adaptive responses in many animal species. Siberian hamsters, transferred from a long-day 'summer-like' photoperiod (LD) to a short-day 'winter-like' photoperiod (SD), exhibit a naturally-occurring reversal in obesity. Photoperiod-induced changes in adiposity are mediated by the duration of MEL secretion and can be mimicked by exogenously administered MEL into animals housed in LD...

BACKGROUND: Many children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders undergo expensive, time-consuming behavioral interventions that often yield only modest improvements. The development of adjunctive interventions that can increase the benefit of rehabilitation therapies is essential in order to improve the lives of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. MAIN TEXT: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA approved therapy that is safe and effective in reducing seizure frequency and duration in individuals with epilepsy...

INTRODUCTION: The vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is used for treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy but laryngeal side effects are common. We tried to improve VNS by modifying the implantation procedure. The aim was to reduce the rate of side effects that have prevented using VNS to its full capacity. METHODS: We operated on 74 pediatric patients for VNS device implantation using a modified surgical protocol incorporating lower neck incision for electrode placement and 36 patients who were operated by standard technique were used for control group...

The aim of this study was to validate a procedure to identify and preserve the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (EBSLN) during thyroid surgery. The present study also aimed to analyze the EBSLN and the vagus nerve activities after stimulation and demonstrate an operative association between all the laryngeal muscles. Dissection of the cervical region was performed bilaterally in four adult cadavers. In a second step, 144 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy were included. Intraoperative stimulations of the cervical vagus nerve and the EBSLN in the sternothyroid-laryngeal triangle were performed bilaterally...

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a promising neurostimulation tool for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression. Here, we report the effects of positive remission rates and tuning parameters in a group of 18 (6 female, 12 male, mean age 54) long-term treated patients. Treatment varied between 3 and 200months (mean 104.9months). Mean stimulation intensity was 1.46mA, ranging from 0.5 to 2.0mA and high-frequency stimulation of 20-25Hz (mean 23.61Hz). The remission rates in our study population clearly indicate ongoing positive effects of VNS and highlight stimulation tunings between 0...

Doose syndrome (epilepsy with myoclonic-atonic seizures) is an epilepsy syndrome with an incidence of approximately 1-2% of childhood-onset epilepsies. Although this syndrome is associated with multiple types of generalized seizures, the diagnosis is based on the presence of myoclonic-atonic seizures. Eighteen percent of patients have refractory seizures and intellectual disabilities. There have, however, been a few reports on the efficacy of surgical treatment for Doose syndrome. We describe a case of Doose syndrome in a 10-year-old boy...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of regulating autonomic nervous system (ANS) homeostasis by inhibiting sympathetic hyperactivity and/or enhancing parasympathetic activity on pulmonary inflammation and functional disturbance. METHODS: An animal model of acute lung injury (ALI) was established in rabbits by an intratracheal injection of hydrochloric acid (HCl) in rabbits. Animals in control groups were received saline or HCl only, and the others received both HCl and followed treatments: vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), intravenous injection of tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA), or stellate ganglion block (SGB)...

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RATIONALE: Dravet Syndrome (DS) is a severe epileptic encephalopathy of childhood involving intractable seizures, recurrent status epilepticus and cognitive decline. Because DS is a rare disease, available data is limited and evidence-based treatment guidelines are lacking. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an established neurostimulation treatment for intractable epilepsy, however little evidence is published on its efficacy in patients with DS. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of all peer-reviewed English language studies reporting seizure outcomes of patients with DS treated with adjunctive vagus nerve stimulation...

Obesity is taking up epidemic proportions worldwide with significant impacts on the health of both the affected individual and on society as a whole. Treatment approaches consist of behavioural and pharmacological approaches, however these are often found to be ineffective. In severe obesity, bariatric surgery is frequently performed. Unfortunately, 40% of patients show substantial weight gain over the long-term or display the associated metabolic syndrome, making the development of novel therapies necessary...

BACKGROUND: Changes in hippocampal gray matter volumes are proposed to be involved in pathogenesis, course, and treatment response of major depressive disorder. Converging evidence suggests that reduced neurogenesis may occur in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a well-defined, long-term brain stimulation treatment for TRD. However, its in vivo positive effect on hippocampal modulation as mechanism of action has never been investigated before in clinical studies...

PURPOSE: Patients with epilepsy (PWE) may suffer from comorbid psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). The efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in the treatment of epilepsy and depression is established, however the impact on PNES is unknown. Since many patients with PNES have comorbid depression, we explored the impact on quality of life (QOL) that VNS has on PWE and PNES. METHODS: The video electroencephalogram (vEEG) of all patients who underwent VNS at our institution was reviewed...

PURPOSE: This study evaluates the quality of information available on the internet for carers of children with epilepsy considering treatment with Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS). METHODS: Selected key phrases were entered into two popular search engines (Google™, Yahoo™). These phrases were: "Vagus nerve stimulator", alone and in combination with "childhood epilepsy", "paediatric epilepsy" and "epilepsy in childhood"; "VNS", and "VNS epilepsy". The first 50 hits per search were then screened...