1. Vagus nerve stimulation as a potential modulator of periictal psychotic episodes: A report of four cases
- Author
-
Gerard Plans, Montse Alemany, J. Mora, Nuria Custal, Mila Santurino, Laura Rodriguez-Bel, Tim Vancamp, Jacint Sala-Padró, Eva Real, and Mercè Falip
- Subjects
Neurophysiology and neuropsychology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Psychosis ,Positron emission tomography ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Psicosi ,Drug-resistant epilepsy ,Case Report ,Nervi vague ,Status epilepticus ,Vagus nerve ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,medicine ,RC346-429 ,Epilepsy ,business.industry ,Incidence (epidemiology) ,QP351-495 ,Psychoses ,Semiology ,Drug Resistant Epilepsy ,medicine.disease ,Psychotic episodes ,Periictal psychotic episodes ,Epilèpsia ,Neurology ,Anesthesia ,Hypermetabolism ,Neurology (clinical) ,Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Vagus nerve stimulation - Abstract
Highlights • PPE are treatable and we report a case series of patients successfully treated with VNS. • Both antiseizure and antipsychotic VNS effects are not immediate. • Antipsychotic effect of VNS may be observed even in patients who do not become seizure free., 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.
- Published
- 2021