SynthesisNeurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology2020
Antidepressant effect of vagal nerve stimulation in epilepsy patients: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07610655 (Effects of Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation on Post-Surgical Return to Consciousness, Delirium, and Depression), which is not on this map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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.
Effects of Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation on Post-Surgical Return to Consciousness, Delirium, and Depression
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Clinical characterization and management of persons with comorbid epilepsy and depression: an expert opinion paper.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy in Epilepsy: An Overview of Technical and Surgical Method, Patient Selection, and Treatment Outcomes.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Expert opinion on diagnosis and management of epilepsy-associated comorbidities.Epilepsia open · 2024Review
- Long-term effects of vagus nerve stimulation on EEG aperiodic components in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2024Article
- Bi-level VNS therapy with different therapy modes at night and daytime improves seizures and quality of life in a patient with drug-resistant epilepsy.Epilepsy & behavior reports · 2023Article
- Patients With Epilepsy Who Underwent Epilepsy Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic Showed Less Depressive Tendencies.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Article
- Different modalities of invasive neurostimulation for epilepsy.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020Review
- Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Modulates EEG Microstates and Delta Activity in Healthy Subjects.Brain sciences · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
38 authors at 19 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundVagal nerve stimulation (VNS) is an effective palliative therapy in drug-resistant epileptic patients and is also approved as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Depression is a frequent comorbidity in epilepsy and it affects the quality of life of patients more than the seizure frequency itself. The aim of this systematic review is to analyze the available literature about the VNS effect on depressive symptoms in epileptic patients. MATERIAL AND
methodsA comprehensive search of PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar was performed, and results were included up to January 2020. All studies concerning depressive symptom assessment in epileptic patients treated with VNS were included.
resultsNine studies were included because they fulfilled inclusion criteria. Six out of nine papers reported a positive effect of VNS on depressive symptoms. Eight out of nine studies did not find any correlation between seizure reduction and depressive symptom amelioration, as induced by VNS. Clinical scales for depression, drug regimens, and age of patients were broadly different among the examined studies.
conclusionsReviewed studies strongly suggest that VNS ameliorates depressive symptoms in drug-resistant epileptic patients and that the VNS effect on depression is uncorrelated to seizure response. However, more rigorous studies addressing this issue are encouraged.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.