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Review
. 2022 Sep 22;13(5):128-142.
doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v13.i5.128.

Electrical neuromodulation therapy for inflammatory bowel disease

Farah Yasmin  1 , Abdul Moiz Sahito  1 , Syeda Lamiya Mir  1 , Govinda Khatri  1 , Somina Shaikh  1 , Ambresha Gul  2 , Syed Adeel Hassan  3 , Thoyaja Koritala  4 , Salim Surani  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Electrical neuromodulation therapy for inflammatory bowel disease

Farah Yasmin et al. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. .

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. It has financial and quality of life impact on patients. Although there has been a significant advancement in treatments, a considerable number of patients do not respond to it or have severe side effects. Therapeutic approaches such as electrical neuromodulation are being investigated to provide alternate options. Although bioelectric neuromodulation technology has evolved significantly in the last decade, sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) for fecal incontinence remains the only neuromodulation protocol commonly utilized use for GI disease. For IBD treatment, several electrical neuromodulation techniques have been studied, such as vagus NS, SNS, and tibial NS. Several animal and clinical experiments were conducted to study the effectiveness, with encouraging results. The precise underlying mechanisms of action for electrical neuromodulation are unclear, but this modality appears to be promising. Randomized control trials are required to investigate the efficacy of intrinsic processes. In this review, we will discuss the electrical modulation therapy for the IBD and the data pertaining to it.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; Electrical neuromodulation; Inflammatory bowel disease; Neuromodulation; Sacral nerve stimulation; Tibial nerve stimulation; Ulcerative colitis; Vagus nerve stimulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sites of bioelectric neuromodulation to improve gastro-intestinal symptoms. In animal research and experimental clinical settings, neuromodulation has been used to treat a ramification of gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses at numerous sites on neurons innervating the gastrointestinal tract. Some of the neuromodulation techniques such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, sympathetic stimulation, vagal nerve stimulation, and gastric electrical stimulation are mentioned in the figure above that relieve the symptoms related to inflammatory bowel disease. IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Gastrointestinal tract’s extrinsic innervation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Vagus nerve stimulation. A: Direct vagus nerve stimulation; B and C: Noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation; transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) (B); transcutaneous auricular VNS (C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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