Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2005 Jan;46(1):91-6.
doi: 10.1111/j.0013-9580.2005.16404.x.

Right-sided vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for refractory epilepsy in humans

Amy McGregor  1 , James Wheless, James Baumgartner, David Bettis
Affiliations
Case Reports

Right-sided vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for refractory epilepsy in humans

Amy McGregor et al. Epilepsia. 2005 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: We present three children who underwent right-sided vagus nerve stimulation (R-VNS). This treatment option for people with refractory epilepsy has not been described in children.

Methods: We reviewed our database of >350 patients implanted with vagus nerve stimulators and now describe our experience in three patients with R-VNS for the treatment of intractable seizures. All three patients improved dramatically with left-sided vagus nerve stimulation (L-VNS), but the devices had to be removed because of infection. The patients were thought to be at high risk for nerve injury if they were reapproached for L-VNSs; therefore R-VNSs were implanted.

Results: All three patients with an R-VNS had a reduction in seizures. Our first patient has had an R-VNS for 5 years; he has been seizure free for >2 years on R-VNS monotherapy. The second patient had an R-VNS for 8 months. His seizure control improved slightly, but not as dramatically as with L-VNS. The third child has had an R-VNS for >7 months and has cessation of his most disabling seizure type (generalized tonic-clonic seizures). None of the patients had cardiac side effects from therapeutic R-VNS. However, two of the three patients had respiratory events with R-VNS.

Conclusions: VNS is known to be an effective treatment in pharmacoresistant epilepsy. R-VNS should be considered if a patient has significant benefit from L-VNS but is unable to continue with L-VNS. R-VNS appears also to have antiepilepsy effects. Additionally, our case report suggests that in some patients, a differential response is found regarding seizure control with R-VNS or L-VNS, raising the question whether L-VNS failures should pursue a trial of R-VNS. Patients should be cautioned and monitored for reactive airway disease if they undergo R-VNS. More research is needed to compare the effects of right- and left-sided VNS on cardiac and pulmonary function in humans and to determine which has the best antiseizure effect.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Right-sided vagus nerve stimulation.
    Tubbs RS, Blount JP. Tubbs RS, et al. Epilepsia. 2005 Jul;46(7):1152; author reply 1152-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2005.09205_1.x. Epilepsia. 2005. PMID: 16026573 No abstract available.

Publication types

Substances