Vagal Nerve Stimulation: Is It Effective in Children with Dravet Syndrome?

Abstract

Treatment of Dravet syndrome with anti-seizure medications is challenging and frequently disappointing in early childhood. Nonpharmacologic treatments for epilepsy including ketogenic diet, corpus callosotomy, and vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) are considered and used for management of medically refractory epilepsy. In this series, we report our experience with VNS in eight children with Dravet syndrome. Mean age at VNS implantation was 6.2 years. Duration of treatment with VNS ranged from 2 to 13 years. When compared with baseline, four of eight children had a 50 to 75% reduction in seizure frequency or duration. Four children had no significant improvement in seizures after VNS. The device was well tolerated in all patients without significant complications.

Keywords

Dravet syndrome - vagal nerve stimulation - intractable epilepsy

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