SynthesisJournal of neurology2022
Efficacy and safety of VNS therapy or continued medication management for treatment of adults with drug-resistant epilepsy: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of neurology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Cerebral Perfusion and Cognitive Function Under Simulated High-Altitude Hypobaric Hypoxia.Brain and behavior · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Effectiveness of Seizure Dogs for People With Severe Refractory Epilepsy: Results From the EPISODE Study.Neurology · 2024Trial
- Epilepsy Surgery in a Resource-Limited Latin-American Center: Presurgical Evaluation Findings and Early ILAE Outcomes in a Mixed Adult-Pediatric Cohort.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Longitudinal association of subjective sleep quality and health-related quality of life improvements with Vagus nerve stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy: a 24-month retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Article
- Vagal Nerve Stimulation as Therapy for Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: A Tertiary Hospital Experience of Outcomes and Efficacy in King Abdullah Medical City.Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) · 2026Article
- Using stereo-electroencephalography data to model the optimal intracranial venous sinus location for an endovascular seizure detection device: A feasibility study.Epilepsia open · 2025Article
- Dynamic changes in comorbid conditions following vagus nerve stimulation for epilepsy.Acta epileptologica · 2025Article
- NORSE secondary to anti-GAD65 antibody-positive encephalitis treated with novel adjunctive rapid titration VNS protocol.Epilepsia open · 2025Article
- Long-Term Efficacy and Quality-of-Life Changes After Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Adult Patients With Drug-Resistant Epilepsy.Journal of clinical neurology (Seoul, Korea) · 2025Article
- Treatment of Seizures in People with Intellectual Disability.CNS drugs · 2025Review
- Left and right vagus nerve stimulation: historical perspectives, clinical efficacy, and future directions.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Review
- Long-Term Outcome in Adult Patients with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy Submitted to Vagus Nerve Stimulation.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Using neural biomarkers to personalize dosing of vagus nerve stimulation.Bioelectronic medicine · 2024Article
- Magnetogenetic cell activation using endogenous ferritin.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation in medically refractory epilepsy: Adverse effects and clinical correlates.Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) · 2024Article
- Long-term effects of vagus nerve stimulation on EEG aperiodic components in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2024Article
- Exploring the potential of vagus nerve stimulation in treating brain diseases: a review of immunologic benefits and neuroprotective efficacy.European journal of medical research · 2023Review
- Neuropsychiatric Lyme Disease and Vagus Nerve Stimulation.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Predictive factors for successful vagus nerve stimulation in patients with refractory epilepsy: real-life insights from a multicenter study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) Therapy® is an adjunctive neurostimulation treatment for people with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) who are unwilling to undergo resective surgery, have had unsuccessful surgery or are unsuitable for surgery. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to determine the treatment effects of VNS Therapy as an adjunct to anti-seizure medications (ASMs) for the management of adults with DRE. A literature search was performed in August 2020 of the Medline®, Medline® Epub Ahead of Print, Embase, and the Cochrane library databases. Outcomes examined included reduction in seizure frequency, seizure freedom, ASM load, discontinuations, and serious adverse events (SAEs). Comparators included best medical practice, ASMs, low-stimulation or sham VNS Therapy. Four RCTs and six comparative observational studies were identified for inclusion. Against comparators, individuals treated with VNS had a significantly better odds of experiencing a ≥ 50% reduction in seizure frequency (OR: 2.27 [95% CI 1.47, 3.51]; p = 0.0002), a ≥ 75% reduction in seizure frequency (OR: 3.56 [95% CI 1.59, 7.98]; p = 0.002) and a reduced risk for increased ASM load (risk ratio: 0.36 [95% CI 0.21, 0.62]; p = 0.0002). There was no difference in the odds of discontinuation or the rate of SAEs between VNS versus comparators. This meta-analysis demonstrated the benefits of VNS Therapy in people with DRE, which included improvement in seizure frequency without an increase in the rate of SAEs or discontinuations, thereby supporting the consideration of VNS Therapy for people who are not responding to ASMs and those unsuitable or unwilling to undergo surgery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.