Vagal stimulator in adult patients with pharmaco-resistant epilepsy in a public hospital in Argentina: our experience in the last eight years

CAMPORA NURIA; LOMLOMJIAN C; ODDO S; KOCHEN S; SEOANE P

Bangkok

Congreso; Word Epilepsy Congress; 2019

ILAE

Purpose: The vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy isa recently neurostimulation technique used for treating pharmaco-resistantepilepsy. It can be considered an effective and safe alternative for thetreatment of refractory epilepsy patients not candidate for surgery. We describethe effectiveness of this therapy in a public Epilepsy Center in Buenos Aires.Method: We performed a retrospective analysis of 41 adults patientsfollowed by epilepsy refractory to pharmacological and non-pharmacologicaltreatment, including surgery, that were treated with vagus nerve stimulatorbetween the years 2010 and 2018.Results: We included 41 patients (22 men). At the time of theimplantation of VNS, the average age was of 26 years, and the media time ofevolution of epilepsy was of 15 years. The follow-up of the patients since theimplant was 1-8 years. At 24 months postimplantation, 63.5% of the patientspresented an improvement greater than or equal to 50% of previous frequencycrises. None of the patients had serious adverse effects, 5 (12.1%) showedminor adverse effects and 36 (87.9 %) did not show adverse effects to thetreatment.Conclusion: The therapy with VNS in this adult series withpharmaco-resistant epilepsy was effective, well tolerated and safe.