| Vagus Nerve Stimulation surgery, a last-ditch effort | | | | No one knows why the VNS reduces seizures. |
| to control seizures, stirs up a controversy amongst | | | | Proponents believe that persistent VNS causes |
| those who have the device implanted. Many patients | | | | changes in brain chemistry that may reduce |
| love the relief from uncontrollable seizures. However, | | | | excitatory amino acids and/or increase inhibitory |
| many other patients hate the side-effects caused by | | | | levels. Patients report that VNS reduces the number, |
| the surgery and the devise. | | | | length, severity of seizures, and the length of |
| Up to 70 percent of people could have their seizures | | | | recovery time after seizures. Some report improved |
| controlled with prescription drugs. For the remaining | | | | quality of life. "It has been almost three years since |
| 30 percent, surgery may be an option. Epilepsy | | | | my VNS, and the only thing I would have changed is |
| surgery has many different variations; temporal lobe | | | | that I would have had it about ten years earlier than |
| resection, extratemporal cortical resection, and | | | | I did." |
| corpus callosal section. | | | | However, one important thing doctors forget to tell |
| Besides these radical surgeries, Vagus or Vagal Nerve | | | | you before they implant the VNS in a $23,000 |
| Stimulation surgery (VNS) implants a VNS pulse | | | | surgery: If you have a heart attack, you can not be |
| generator under the skin of the chest in a surgically | | | | treated with an automated external defibrillator |
| created pocket. The electrode is tunneled | | | | (AED). Patients with VNS cannot receive emergency |
| subcutaneously from a neck incision. The VNS uses | | | | treatment with electrical charges used to restore |
| electrical pulses delivered to the vagus nerve in the | | | | normal heart rhythm to patients in cardiac arrest. |
| neck which travel up into the brain. The vagus nerve | | | | Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights |
| has very few pain receptors and therefore provides | | | | reserved. |
| a good pathway to deliver signals to the brain. | | | | |