{"doi":"10.1016/j.yebeh.2022.108653","title":"Concurrent brain-responsive and vagus nerve stimulation for treatment of drug-resistant focal epilepsy","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: Clinical trials of a brain-responsive neurostimulator, RNS® System (RNS), excluded patients with a vagus nerve stimulator, VNS® System (VNS). The goal of this study was to evaluate seizure outcomes and safety of concurrent RNS and VNS stimulation in adults with drug-resistant focal-onset seizures. METHODS: A retrospective multicenter chart review was performed on all patients with an active VNS and RNS who were treated for a minimum of 6 months with both systems concurrently. Frequency of disabling seizures at baseline before RNS, at 1 year after RNS placement, and at last follow-up were used to calculate the change in seizure frequency after treatment. Data on adverse events and complications related to each device were collected. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients from 10 epilepsy centers met inclusion criteria. All but one patient received RNS after VNS. The median follow-up time after RNS implantation was 28 months. Analysis of the entire population of patients with active VNS and RNS systems revealed a median reduction in seizure frequency at 1 year post-RNS placement of 43% with a responder rate of 49%, and at last follow-up a 64% median reduction with a 67% responder rate. No negative interactions were reported from the concurrent use of VNS and RNS. Stimulation-related side-effects were reported more frequently in association with VNS (30%) than with RNS (2%). SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings suggest that concurrent treatment with VNS and RNS is safe and that the addition of RNS to VNS can further reduce seizure frequency.","journal":"Epilepsy & Behavior","year":2022,"id":257302,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":18,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9586,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":350081,"name":"Stefan Sillau","orcid":"0000-0002-8691-3139","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":373378,"name":"Danielle McDermott","orcid":"0000-0002-8171-0447","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227184,"name":"Lia Ernst","orcid":"0000-0001-8496-5464","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227183,"name":"David Spencer","orcid":"0000-0001-9751-235X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":286739,"name":"Dario J. Englot","orcid":"0000-0001-8373-690X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":286738,"name":"Hernán F. J. González","orcid":"0000-0002-1831-2091","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":875329,"name":"Proleta Datta","orcid":"0000-0002-1772-8845","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":429913,"name":"Ioannis Karakis","orcid":"0000-0001-5122-7211","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":662204,"name":"Danielle A. Becker","orcid":"0000-0002-4792-8055","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":286734,"name":"John D. Rolston","orcid":"0000-0002-8843-5468","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":314119,"name":"Amir Arain","orcid":"0000-0003-0572-0552","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":259359,"name":"Vikram R. Rao","orcid":"0000-0002-6389-2638","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227166,"name":"Michael J. Doherty","orcid":"0000-0001-7612-290X","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":765566,"name":"Alexandra Urban","orcid":"0000-0003-4025-6417","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":373382,"name":"Cornelia Drees","orcid":"0000-0002-9977-983X","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":373377,"name":"Mesha‐Gay Brown","orcid":"0000-0003-2470-3723","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":13,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:25:30.183987Z","pmid":"35305525","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}