Abstracts

Rationale: As a palliative option considered for patients who are not good candidates for cranial surgery, many patients have been treated by vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). In Japan VNS is available for any types of epilepsy if patient is not open surgery candidate. The purpose of this study is to evaluate VNS efficacy on epilepsy syndromes, seizure types and VNS comorbidity. Methods: There are 39 patients underwent VNS in our facility. 32 patients (20 males: 12 females) were followed up more than 6 months. The age ranged from 3 through 56 years old. Post-VNS follow-up periods are 6-18 months. Results: There were 13 SGEs, 11 SLREs, 6 SGE/SLREs and two PMEs. There were five seizure freedoms, 17 good responders with more than 50% seizure reduction, six moderate responders with less than 50% seizure reduction and four non-responders. Among the 5 seizure free patients there were 4 SLREs and one SGE. These 4 SLREs showed normal intelligence. There were ten patients with Status Epilepticus(SE). Nine have been free from SE. Twenty four patients had no comorbidity. Six had transient hoarseness. Three had transient cough. One has stimulation induced hoarseness. Conclusions: VNS is effective for any types of epilepsy and SE. VNS is also harmless therapy.