ArticleFrontiers in physiology2022
Percutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Reduces Inflammation in Critical Covid-19 Patients.
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and Safety of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Methodological Evaluation of Randomized Controlled Trials.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Transcutaneous Auricular Neurostimulation Modulates Pain Perception in Survivors of Stroke With Chronic Upper-Extremity Pain: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Pilot Study.Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society · 2026Trial
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation has no anti-inflammatory effect in diabetes.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Vagus nerve stimulation and pulmonary outcomes: a scoping review of preclinical and clinical evidence.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2026Article
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- Treatment of post-COVID symptoms with auricular vagus nerve stimulation.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in breast cancer: a neuroimmune model to improve quality of life.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation to alleviate metformin-associated gastrointestinal adverse events and optimize glycaemic control: a randomized, sham-controlled pilot trial protocol.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neuroimmune Control of Inflammation in Acute Kidney Injury and Multiorgan Dysfunction.Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN · 2025Review
- Effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on sepsis-induced coagulopathy: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Cholinergic reflex control of inflammation: mechanistic and translational advances in transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation across rheumatic, metabolic, and postoperative disorders.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Left and right vagus nerve stimulation: historical perspectives, clinical efficacy, and future directions.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Review
- Review
- Personalized auricular vagus nerve stimulation: beat-to-beat deceleration dominates in systole-gated stimulation during inspiration - a pilot study.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- COVID-19-induced gastrointestinal autonomic dysfunction: A systematic review.World journal of clinical cases · 2023Article
- Randomized controlled study to evaluate the safety and clinical impact of percutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in patients with severe COVID-19.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Potential value of neuroimmunotherapy for COVID-19: efficacies and mechanisms of vagus nerve stimulation, electroacupuncture, and cholinergic drugs.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Auricular vagus nerve stimulation: a new option to treat inflammation in COVID-19?Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2023Article
- Understanding the Pivotal Role of the Vagus Nerve in Health from Pandemics.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Effect of stimulated platelets in COVID-19 thrombosis: Role of alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Covid-19 is an infectious disease associated with cytokine storms and derailed sympatho-vagal balance leading to respiratory distress, hypoxemia and cardiovascular damage. We applied the auricular vagus nerve stimulation to modulate the parasympathetic nervous system, activate the associated anti-inflammatory pathways, and reestablish the abnormal sympatho-vagal balance. aVNS is performed percutaneously using miniature needle electrodes in ear regions innervated by the auricular vagus nerve. In terms of a randomized prospective study, chronic aVNS is started in critical, but not yet ventilated Covid-19 patients during their stay at the intensive care unit. The results show decreased pro-inflammatory parameters, e.g. a reduction of CRP levels by 32% after 1 day of aVNS and 80% over 7 days (from the mean 151.9 mg/dl to 31.5 mg/dl) or similarly a reduction of TNFalpha levels by 58.1% over 7 days (from a mean 19.3 pg/ml to 8.1 pg/ml) and coagulation parameters, e.g. reduction of DDIMER levels by 66% over 7 days (from a mean 4.5 μg/ml to 1.5 μg/ml) and increased anti-inflammatory parameters, e.g. an increase of IL-10 levels by 66% over 7 days (from the mean 2.7 pg/ml to 7 pg/ml) over the aVNS duration without collateral effects. aVNS proved to be a safe clinical procedure and could effectively supplement treatment of critical Covid-19 patients while preventing devastating over-inflammation.
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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.