Epilepsy Talk
TNS vs. VNS – NO SURGERY!
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The first Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) was implanted in 1988, as a therapeutic option for medically intractable epilepsy, when elective epilepsy surgery was not appropriate.
As the number of implanted vagus nerve stimulators grows, so does the need to remove or revise the devices.
Which is a little tricky, because of the spiral stimulating electrodes, wrapped around the nerve.
TNS vs. VNS – NO SURGERY!
10 Comments
The first Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) was implanted in 1988, as a therapeutic option for medically intractable epilepsy, when elective epilepsy surgery was not appropriate.
As the number of implanted vagus nerve stimulators grows, so does the need to remove or revise the devices.
Which is a little tricky, because of the spiral stimulating electrodes, wrapped around the nerve. Especially if the VNS treatment has proven ineffective.
And of course, what goes in, must come out. Anyway you look at it, there’s more surgery involved.
The up side to having a VNS is better seizure control.
The down side is discomfort, headaches, temporary hoarseness and shortness of breath.
MEG — Could It CURE Your epilepsy?
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Regardless of your age or epilepsy syndrome, all patients of all ages deserve the possibility of living seizure-free. And for those with intractable seizures, surgery is often the answer. But it’s a scary and risky proposition.
But, now there’s new hope when all else fails. A powerful new brain scanning tool which could make all the difference between successful and unsuccessful surgery. Even for those whose surgery has failed before.
Called the MEG (Magnetoencephalography), this powerful scanner acts as a real-time brain mapping and imaging device to determine where the epicenters of seizures are in the brain. It can detect changes in brain waves that occur on the order of milliseconds, as opposed to a second or more with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). And for a select few patients, those extra milliseconds can mean the difference between life and death.
Tags: brain scanner, CURE, death, Epilepsy, insurance approved, life, MEG, non-invasive, precise, surgery
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