- 著者
-
Kentaro TAMURA
Ryota SASAKI
Takafumi SAKAKIBARA
Riju DAHAL
Yasuhiro TAKESHIMA
Ryosuke MATSUDA
Shuichi YAMADA
Fumihiko NISHIMURA
Ichiro NAKAGAWA
Young-Soo PARK
Hidehiro HIRABAYASHI
Hiroyuki NAKASE
- 出版者
- The Japan Neurosurgical Society
- 雑誌
- Neurologia medico-chirurgica (ISSN:04708105)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.2022-0280, (Released:2023-04-13)
- 参考文献数
- 28
- 被引用文献数
-
1
A vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) device delivers electrical pulses to the vagus nerve at a rhythm defined by the duty cycle. The standard therapeutic range is advocated for an output current of 1.5-2.25 mA and a duty cycle of 10%. As the optimal settings vary from patient to patient, some patients may benefit from additional seizure reduction when stimulated beyond the standard range. A total of 74 patients (15 children aged <12 years and 59 adolescents/adults) who underwent VNS implantation between 2011 and 2020 and who were followed up for at least 2 years were included in this retrospective study. Stimulation parameters exceeding 2.25 mA of output current, 25% of duty cycle, and 0.5625 (2.25 mA × 25%) of current × duty cycle were defined as high stimulation. The proportion achieved an additional seizure reduction of 20%, and the 50% seizure reduction rate at the last follow-up was compared between adolescents/adults and children. Approximately 40% of patients in adolescents/adults treated with high stimulation experienced an additional acute effect, resulting in a 50% or greater reduction in seizures in almost all patients. Moreover, in adolescents/adults, 22.2%-41.9% of the patients were treated with high stimulation, and the responder rate was 69.5%. Conversely, the responder rate in children was 26.7%, significantly worse than that in adolescents/adults, despite higher stimulation. VNS with high-stimulation settings is effective for adolescent and adult patients with intractable epilepsy. Even high stimulation may not be effective in extremely refractory pediatric epilepsy with a high seizure frequency.