A REVIEW OF VAGUS NERVE STIMULATION AS A THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION IN EPILEPSY

Abstract

Nowadays there are more then 30 approved medicines for treatment epilepsy. Modern medical scientific society continuing investigate new generations of antiepileptic medicines with higher efficiency and lesser amount of side effects. Despite this good facts 30 % of patients suffering from epilepsy are still resistant to pharmacological therapy. For such kind of patients, especially who have generalized or unknown epilepsy neuromodulation therapy could be a good choice, one of them is vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). In this review, we provide an literature overview on VNS system, it’s mechanism of work, effectiveness of different types and rates of use, possible side effects and future opportunities for the implementation of VNS system into clinical practice.