Predictors of efficacy before vagus nerve stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Vagus nerve stimulation is an effective treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy, and its efficacy and safety have been confirmed after over two decades of clinical practices.However, reassuring predictors to evaluate whether patients with drug-resistant epilepsy could gain benefit from vagus nerve stimulation has not been established, because the underlying mechanism remain poorly understood.Previous studies revealed that presumable patient-related predictors included age, epileptic seizure type, epilepsy etiology, epilepsy syndrome, cognitive and behavioral responsiveness, scalp electroencephalographic related signals and heart rate variability related signals.However, most of the predictors still remain controversial due to the factors such as the heterogeneity of different research design.This article aims at analyzing and concluding the information from relevant literatures, and summing up the predictors of efficacy before vagus nerve stimulation in refractory epilepsy to highlight the future work.