Authors :
Rosario Teran-Mejia, MD – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Michael Funke, MD, PhD – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Olga Rodziyevska, MS, PA-C – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Manish Shah, MD – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Michael Watkins, MD – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Jeremy Lankford, MD – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Presenting Author: Gretchen Von Allmen, MD – McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Rationale:
One-third of all children with epilepsy are classified as having drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) is an alternative therapeutic option for DRE that has demonstrated significant seizure reduction in children, but it is still difficult to predict who will have a good response to VNS therapy. Here we report preliminary findings from our institutional experience over a 17-year period in a cohort of children receiving VNS for DRE.
Methods:
225 children received VNS therapy at our institution from 2007 to 2024 and 70 are included in this report. All included subjects had a complete phase 1 presurgical evaluation, including continuous video-EEG with ictal and interictal recordings, MRI, Magnetoencephalography prior to VNS implantation, initial VNS implantation between the ages of 2 and 18 years, and minimal follow-up time of ≥1 year. Subjects were classified as Responder (R) if seizure reduction was ≥50%, or as Non-Responder (NR) if seizure reduction was < 50%, based on retrospective medical record review.