As an alternative to medication, the FDA approved implantation of a vagus nerve stimulator ( VNS ) in patients older than 12 to help control or reduce the seizures that occur because of epilepsy, but until recently, there was no data to illustrate how children younger than 12 years of age would respond to VNS implantation.

Now, researchers at Columbus Children's Hospital have demonstrated that using a vagus nerve stimulator in children is effective in reducing seizures and epilepsy-related hospital visits.
“ In the study of more than 75 patients between the ages of one and 17 years treated at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Clinic at Columbus Children's Hospital, we found that 59 percent of the patients implanted with the vagus nerve stimulator did not have localization-related epilepsy and side effects requiring discontinuation were low ( 5 percent ),” said Juliann Paolicchi, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Columbus Children's Hospital and at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health.

“ Further, we observed that hospital visits for epilepsy-related conditions decreased by 41 percent—this will have an impact on the long-term cost-effectiveness of VNS therapy and decrease overall patient morbidity. For families of children with intractable epilepsy, less time spent in the hospital has a significant, positive impact socially and financially by reducing the loss of parental work time, the patient's school absences, and family stressors relating to caring for a hospitalized child. ”

The vagus nerve stimulator is implanted in the left side of a patient's neck and works by sending signals to the brain to decrease the electrical activity that leads to seizures.
It was approved for intractable partial epilepsy of adults ( children greater than 12 years ) in 1997.

Epilepsy affects about two million Americans. Most people with epilepsy respond well to medication, but in approximately 25-30 percent of patients, medication doesn't work.

Source: 26th International League Against Epilepsy ( ILAE ) Congress, 2005


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