The role of Vagus nerve stimulation in epilepsy with eyelid myoclonia - A case series.
About a third of eyelid myoclonia epilepsy patients responded to vagus nerve stimulation.
The role of Vagus nerve stimulation in epilepsy with eyelid myoclonia - A case series.
EEM is an epilepsy syndrome characterized by eyelid myoclonia, eyelid closure-induced generalized EEG paroxysms or seizures, and photosensitivity.
To study the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation (vagus nerve stimulation) in patients with epilepsy with eyelid myoclonia (EEM, previously known as Jeavons Syndrome).
Among a database of 134 patients with EEM, we identified those treated with vagus nerve stimulation.
We identified 12 patients who were treated with vagus nerve stimulation (50% female).
The median age of epilepsy onset was 5 (range 4-14) years; age of vagus nerve stimulation implantation was 16 (range 6-33) years, and median duration of vagus nerve stimulation treatment was 13.5 (range 0-24) years.
One patient had the vagus nerve stimulation explanted due to lack of efficacy and one had it turned off for enrollment in a clinical trial.
The median maximum tolerated output current settings for our cohort were 1.75 mA (IQR 1.38-1.94; range 0.75-2.25) with an OFF time of 1.8 min (IQR 1.1-3, range 0.2-3) and median duty cycle of 24% (IQR 16-29; range 12-58).
From this small case series of patients with EEM, four (33.3%) were responders to vagus nerve stimulation, with improvement noted in multiple seizure types. This indicates the potential role of vagus nerve stimulation for patients with EEM.