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Review
. 2021 Jul 13:15:709436.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.709436. eCollection 2021.

A Review of Parameter Settings for Invasive and Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Applied in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Sean L Thompson  1 , Georgia H O'Leary  1 , Christopher W Austelle  1 , Elise Gruber  1 , Alex T Kahn  1 , Andrew J Manett  1 , Baron Short  1 , Bashar W Badran  1
Affiliations
Review

A Review of Parameter Settings for Invasive and Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Applied in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Sean L Thompson et al. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an established form of neuromodulation with a long history of promising applications. Earliest reports of VNS in the literature date to the late 1800's in experiments conducted by Dr. James Corning. Over the past century, both invasive and non-invasive VNS have demonstrated promise in treating a variety of disorders, including epilepsy, depression, and post-stroke motor rehabilitation. As VNS continues to rapidly grow in popularity and application, the field generally lacks a consensus on optimum stimulation parameters. Stimulation parameters have a significant impact on the efficacy of neuromodulation, and here we will describe the longitudinal evolution of VNS parameters in the following categorical progression: (1) animal models, (2) epilepsy, (3) treatment resistant depression, (4) neuroplasticity and rehabilitation, and (5) transcutaneous auricular VNS (taVNS). We additionally offer a historical perspective of the various applications and summarize the range and most commonly used parameters in over 130 implanted and non-invasive VNS studies over five applications.

Keywords: VNS; depression; epilepsy; neuroplasticity; parameter optimization; rehabilitation; tVNS; taVNS.

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Conflict of interest statement

BB is listed as inventor on pending or issued patents in the brain stimulation field, assigned to Bodhi NeuroTech, Inc., and the Medical University of South Carolina. BB serves as a consultant to companies developing non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Visual representation of electrical waveform parameters for consideration during administration of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). The parameters described in the introduction are outlined here on a short time scale (A) as well as on a long time scale (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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