Neuro Insights
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) refers to any technique that stimulates the vagus nerve, which is a major component of the autonomic nervous system. The vagus nerve has an important role in regulating metabolic homeostasis through signaling along the neuroendocrine-immune axis, and is the main nerve involved in controlling digestion, heart rate, and other vital functions.1,2
In the 1880s, scientists first observed that manual massage and compression of the carotid artery in the cervical region of the neck could suppress seizures, essentially a crude stimulation of the vagus nerve. Researchers in the 1930s and 1940s demonstrated that VNS influenced brain electrical activity, and found that VNS had anticonvulsant effects on experimentally induced seizures in dogs.1
Now,
Does It Work?
Helpful Is Vagus Nerve Stimulation?
What Conditions Can It Treat?
Epilepsy
For one-third of people with epilepsy, anti-seizure medicines don't fully manage seizures. Vagus nerve stimulation will be a useful intervention here. It has been approved by the FDA as an add-on therapy for adults and children 4 years and older, and is approved to treat focal or partial drug-resistant seizures.3
VNS may help control seizures by:
- Increasing blood flow in key brain areas
- Raising levels of neurotransmitters important to control seizures
- Changing EEG patterns during a seizure
Since 80% of people with epilepsy have an increase in their heart rate before a seizure, implantable vagus nerve stimulation devices can detect a fast increase in heart rate and trigger stimulation to help stop these seizures.
1. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports. Vagus Nerve Stimulation
2. Mayo Clinic. Vagus nerve stimulation
3. Epilepsy Foundation. Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Therapy
