ArticleChild's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery2013
Vagal nerve stimulation in children under 12 years old with medically intractable epilepsy.
Article in Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Early surgical approaches in pediatric epilepsy - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Surgical re-evaluation patterns among pediatric vagus nerve stimulation non-responders: a single-center retrospective study.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2026Article
- Effect of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Blood Inflammatory Markers in Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: A Pilot Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation: a 20-year Australian experience.Acta neurochirurgica · 2022Article
- Subgroup analysis of seizure and cognitive outcome after vagal nerve stimulator implantation in children.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2021Article
- Health Technology Assessment Report on Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Drug-Resistant Epilepsy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
- Early vagal nerve stimulator implantation in children: personal experience and review of the literature.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2018Review
- A novel controller based on state-transition models for closed-loop vagus nerve stimulation: Application to heart rate regulation.PloS one · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) in children less than 12 years old operated on at the University Hospital Wales.
methodRetrospective review of patients undergoing VNS insertion, over a 3-year period, was undertaken. All children had a minimum follow-up period of 2 years. Sixteen patients were identified via the paediatric epilepsy surgery database. A case note review and telephone evaluation was conducted. Seizure frequency using the McHugh classification was the primary outcome measure, with anti-epileptic drug (AED) use as a secondary outcome measure.
resultsThere were 10 males and 6 females. The mean time with epilepsy prior to surgery was 5.7 years and the mean age at the time of surgery was 7.6 years. Overall, nine (56 %) children experienced a reduction in their seizure frequency of 50 % or more. Of these, four (25 %) had a reduction of more than 80 %. Seven children (44 %) had no reduction in their seizure frequency, although two of these patients reported benefit regarding seizure control and post-ictal recovery. The VNS system was removed in two patients due to infection and no benefit, respectively. Half of the cohort (50 %) reduced the number of anti-epileptic drugs post-surgery, and there was an overall mean reduction of AED of 0.5.
conclusionThis study suggests that VNS is a safe and effective adjuvant therapy in children under 12 years old, with over half reporting significant benefit. Further studies are needed to enable preoperative selection of patients in order to maximise the potential benefit.
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Registered trials
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