Vagal Nerve Stimulation for Epilepsy – Experience of Latvia

  • Dana Apela (Speaker)

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Description

Vagal nerve stimulation therapy for refractory epilepsy has been used in Latvia in Children’s Clinical University Hospital since 2018. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of vagal nerve stimulation therapy for Latvian patients.. All the patients that had their vagal nerve stimulator implanted at Children’s Clinical University Hospital during 2018 - 2021 were included. The data were collected retrospectively from medical records. All of the patients had AspireSR stimulators implanted. . In total, eleven patients had their stimulator implanted, including three (27%) girls. The median age was 9.3 (IQR 6.8-17.2) years at the moment of implantation. All of the patients had been followed-up for at least one year, but nine of them – for at least two years. There was at least 50% reduction of seizure frequency in 5/11 (45%) children, less than 50% reduction of seizure frequency in 3/11 (27%) children, no significant change in seizure frequency in 2/11 (18%) children, some worsening in 1/11 (9%) child after one year follow-up. There was at least 50% reduction of seizure frequency in 5/9 (56%) children, less than 50% reduction of seizure frequency in 1/9 (11%) child, some worsening in 3/9 (33%) children after two years follow-up. There was no signifficant correlation between the presence of generalized epileptiform activity in baseline electroencephalogram and therapy outcome. The proportion of AutoStim was less than 15% of total stimulation time for most of the patients.. The vagal nerve stimulation has provided good results for a half of Latvian patients so far. The rest might have some benefit from increasing the AutoStim proportion of total stimulation time. Further research is needed to find the best prognostic factors to be used for patient selection.
Period29 Mar 2023
Event titleRSU International Research Conference 2023: Knowledge for Use in Practice
Event typeConference
OrganiserRīga Stradiņš University
LocationRiga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

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