Vagal Nerve Stimulators

Vagal Nerve Stimulators

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Children who lose consciousness either during complex partial seizures or generalized seizures, and whose seizures are not being controlled by medication, may benefit from vagal nerve stimulation. This treatment can result in fewer or less severe seizures, although not all children see improvement. In all cases, however, children need to continue to take anti-epileptic medication as they did before the stimulator was inserted. In some cases, your neurologist may recommend that the use of medication be reduced a few months after vagal nerve stimulation has begun.

Vagal nerve stimulation is suggested for children whose seizures are not controlled by medication. The procedure is performed on children as young as age 4. This procedure is not used on children with severe asthma or severe heart disease, particularly those with an irregular heartbeat.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007