Fang T, Xie ZH, Liu TH, Deng J, Chen S, Chen F, Zheng LL. Preliminary analysis of the effect of vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of children with intractable epilepsy. World J Clin Cases 2020; 8(23): 5918-5925 [PMID: 33344590 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i23.5918]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Tie Fang, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children’s Health, No. 56 Nanlishi Road, Xicheng District, Beijing 100056, China. victorft369@hotmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Dec 6, 2020; 8(23): 5918-5925 Published online Dec 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i23.5918
Preliminary analysis of the effect of vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of children with intractable epilepsy
Tie Fang, Zi-Hang Xie, Ting-Hong Liu, Jie Deng, Shuai Chen, Feng Chen, Li-Li Zheng
Tie Fang, Zi-Hang Xie, Ting-Hong Liu, Jie Deng, Shuai Chen, Feng Chen, Li-Li Zheng, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children’s Health, Beijing 100056, China
Author contributions: Fang T and Xie ZH contributed equally to this article and should be considered as co-first authors; Fang T and Xie ZH performed the operation; Liu TH and Deng J designed this retrospective study; Chen S and Chen F wrote this paper; Zheng LL was responsible for sorting the data.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Beijing Children’s Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University Institutional Review Board, Approval No. IEC-C-008-A08-V.05.1.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tie Fang, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children’s Health, No. 56 Nanlishi Road, Xicheng District, Beijing 100056, China. victorft369@hotmail.com
Received: June 29, 2020 Peer-review started: June 29, 2020 First decision: August 8, 2020 Revised: August 29, 2020 Accepted: October 13, 2020 Article in press: October 13, 2020 Published online: December 6, 2020 Processing time: 157 Days and 22.9 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease characterized by excessive discharge of brain neurons caused by various etiologies. Implant vagus nerve stimulation (IVNS) is a pulse signal generated by the generator that increases the impulse of the vagus nerve on one side of the neck and inhibits the abnormality synchronized discharge of the brain neuron network and terminates or attenuates the seizure.
Research motivation
This study will provide a preliminary analysis of the safety and efficacy of IVNS in the treatment of refractory epilepsy in children.
Research objectives
IVNS is an adjunctive treatment for intractable epilepsy where patients are not suitable for resective surgery. This research was designed to identify the safety and efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation in child intractable epilepsy and analyze the effects on different epilepsy syndromes.
Research methods
Eligible children with intractable epilepsy were admitted to the research. We collected data from preoperative assessments as the baseline. During the follow-up time, we recorded the process of seizures (frequency, duration, and seizure type), the changes of drugs or parameters, the complications, etc. We chose the mean reduction rate of seizures, response rate, and McHugh scale as the indictors.
Research results
IVNS is effective and safe for the treatment of refractory epilepsy in children. The curative effect has a cumulative effect. Children with epilepsy syndrome, such as infantile spasms, have a good response to IVNS treatment, which is safe.
Research conclusions
Vagus nerve stimulation is safe and effective in child intractable epilepsy, and the seizure reduction occurs in a time-dependent manner. Moreover, patients with West syndrome may get the most benefits.
Research perspectives
IVNS is effective and safe for the treatment of refractory epilepsy in children, and the curative effect has a cumulative effect. More extensive cases should be selected for case-control studies.
