Vagus nerve stimulation and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: a review of the literature and data from the VNS patient registry. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a severe form of childhood epilepsy that is usually refractory to medical management. When medication fails, alternative therapies are considered. Among these are two surgical options: corpus callosotomy and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). Safety and efficacy are two important factor to consider when selecting an appropriate treatment. VNS is safer than callosotomy, but its efficacy is more difficult to assess. Available studies evaluate its effectiveness using a mixed population of patients (some with prior epilepsy surgery), a multitude of VNS settings, and variable endpoints. To estimate the efficacy of VNS in patients with LGS, a review of the medical literature and the VNS Patient Registry was performed. Within the limits of this type of study, the results showed that VNS appears to be equally as effective as callosotomy. Because VNS has a lower potential for adverse effects, these results suggest that VNS should be considered first in appropriately selected patients.

publication date

  • September 1, 2001

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0034764433

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1017/s1092852900001516

PubMed ID

  • 15489825

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 6

issue

  • 9