Vagus nerve stimulation as a potential modulator of periictal psychotic episodes: A report of four cases

Drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) has been associated with a high incidence of psychotic disorders. Patients can develop psychosis after starting a new antiseizure medication, after undergoing resective surgery, or after implantation of a vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) system. The aim of this study was t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Alemany, Montse, Real, Eva, Custal, Núria, Sala Padró, Jacint, Rodríguez Bel, Laura, Plans, Gerard, Mora Graupera, Jaume, Santurino, Mila, Vancamp, Tim, Falip, Mercè
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/178234
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/178234
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Psicosi
Epilèpsia
Nervi vague
Psychoses
Epilepsy
Vagus nerve
Descripción
Sumario:Drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) has been associated with a high incidence of psychotic disorders. Patients can develop psychosis after starting a new antiseizure medication, after undergoing resective surgery, or after implantation of a vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) system. The aim of this study was to investigate the modulation effect of VNS on psychotic episodes in DRE patients with a pre-existing history of periictal psychotic episodes (PPE). We retrospectively report the outcome of four patients from a single tertiary center with PPE prior to implantation. None of the implanted patients developed de novo PPE after VNS therapy. Regarding seizure outcome, all patients demonstrated a response to VNS with two who experienced who status epilepticus and three patients wtih a change in semiology with after VNS implantation. PPE disappeared in all the study patients, two of them at 6 months post-implantation and in the others after 2 and 3 years, respectively. 18F-FDG-PET results showed hypermetabolism in both anterior insular and medial frontal lobes which disappeared in the 18F -FDG-PET 4 years post-implantation. Based on the results of this series of cases we suggest that VNS therapy may be useful to modulatet PPE in patients with DRE, though effectiveness may be time-dependent.