Clinical course of young patients with Dravet syndrome after vagal nerve stimulation
Zamponi N, Passamonti C, Cappanera S, Petrelli C.
Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2011 Jan;15(1):8-14.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpn.2010.09.003
Let’s continue with our current theme - vagus nerve stimulation (#VNS) in Dravet syndrome (#DS). This retrospective study by Zamponi et al. (Sep. 2010) evaluated the long-term effects of VNS in 8 young patients with DS.
The mean age at seizure onset was 6.03 months (range: 2-12 months). The mean age at VNS implantation was 10.28 years (range: 5-25 years). The average follow-up duration for VNS therapy was 54 months (12-120 months). Generalized tonic-clonic seizures were the most frequently reported seizure type (present in 7 patients), followed by myoclonic seizures with hemisomic prevalence (present in 4 patients).
After 12 months of therapy, half of the patients achieved a 50-79% seizure reduction. Noteworthy, a slight improvement in alertness and communication was observed in 7 out of 8 patients.
Link to the article:
https://www.ejpn-journal.com/article/S1090-3798(10)00181-9/fulltext