ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2023
The efficacy and safety of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for patients with minimally conscious state: a sham-controlled randomized double-blind clinical trial.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- An individual patient data meta-analysis on vagal nerve stimulation for recovery from disorders of consciousness.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- Noninvasive neuromodulation for disorders of consciousness: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Awakening the Vagus: Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation-A Narrative Review.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Implantable vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of disorders of consciousness with epilepsy: a retrospective propensity score-matched clinical study.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: mechanisms, applications, and research progress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for disorders of consciousness: a narrative review of neurophysiological mechanisms, clinical evidence, and future directions.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Multimodal biomarkers of response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in disorders of consciousness: a study protocol.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Short-term changes in CRS-R scores during transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in prolonged disorders of consciousness: a single-arm exploratory study.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity syndrome after intracerebral hemorrhage: a hypothesis-generating case report.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Non-invasive neuroregulation techniques applied to patients with consciousness disorders: a narrative review.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Vagus nerve stimulation: a promising strategy to combat pyroptosis and inflammation in traumatic brain injury through the OX-A/NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- A case for a bigger role of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in brain injury rehabilitation.Croatian medical journal · 2025Article
- Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) for Insomnia Disorder: A Narrative Review of Effectiveness, Mechanisms and Recommendations for Clinical Practice.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Review
- Neuromodulation in the intensive care unit.Intensive care medicine · 2024Article
- Six rehabilitation methods with acupuncture on consciousness in patients with traumatic brain injury: protocol for a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has emerged as a potentially effective neuromodulation technique for addressing neurological disorders, including disorders of consciousness. Expanding upon our prior clinical study, which demonstrated the superior effectiveness of a 4-week taVNS treatment in patients with minimally conscious state (MCS) compared to those in a vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness state, the aim of this investigation was to evaluate the safety and therapeutic efficacy of taVNS in individuals with MCS through a sham-controlled randomized double-blind clinical trial. Methods: A cohort of 50 adult patients (male = 33, female = 17) diagnosed with a MCS were randomly assigned to either the active taVNS ( Results: The scores for the active taVNS group in the CRS-R and GCS showed greater improvement over time compared to the sham taVNS group (CRS-R: 1-week, Z = -1.248, Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that taVNS may serve as a potentially effective and safe intervention for facilitating the restoration of consciousness in individuals diagnosed with MCS. This therapeutic approach appears to enhance cerebral functioning and optimize neural conduction pathways. Clinical trial registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn, Identifier ChiCTR2200066629.
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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.