Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35600632›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2022

Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Treatment of Disorders of Consciousness - Longitudinal Case Study.

Albertyna Osińska, Andrzej Rynkiewicz, Marek Binder, Tomasz Komendziński, Anna Borowicz, Antoni Leszczyński

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Albertyna OsińskaFaculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Andrzej RynkiewiczFaculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Marek BinderInstitute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
Tomasz KomendzińskiDepartment of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland.
Anna BorowiczDepartment of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland.
Antoni LeszczyńskiDepartment of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland.
Nicolaus Copernicus University · PLUniversity of Warsaw · PLInstitute of Psychology · PL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Neuromodulatory electroceuticals such as vagus nerve stimulation have been recently gaining traction as potential rehabilitation tools for disorders of consciousness (DoC). We present a longitudinal case study of non-invasive auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) in a patient diagnosed with chronic unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (previously known as vegetative state). Over a period of 6 months we applied taVNS daily and regularly evaluated the patient's behavioral outcomes using Coma Recovery Scale - Revised. We also took electrophysiological measures: resting state electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). All these methods revealed signs of improvement in the patient's condition. The total CRS-R scores fluctuated but rose from 4 and 6 at initial stages to the heights of 12 and 13 in the 3rd and 5th month, which would warrant a change in diagnosis to a Minimally Conscious State. Scores obtained in a 2 months follow-up period, though, suggest this may not have been a lasting improvement. Behavioral signs of recovery are triangulated by EEG frequency spectrum profiles with re-emergence of a second oscillatory peak in the alpha range, which has been shown to characterize aware people. However, sustained spontaneous theta oscillations did not predictably diminish, which most likely reflects structural brain damage. ECG measures revealed a steady decrease in pre-stimulation HR combined with an increase in HRV-HR. This suggests a gradual withdrawal of sympathetic and an increase in parasympathetic control of the heart, which the previous literature has also linked with DoC improvements. Together, this study suggests that taVNS stimulation holds promise as a DoC treatment.

Indexed as

comadisorders of consciousnessEEGHRVtaVNSunresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS)vagus nerve stimulation

Identifiers

PMID35600632
PMCPMC9120963
OpenAlexW4229075349

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.