Photo Credit: Elena Medvedeva

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) improves the performance of global psychomotor functions for patients with severe drug-resistant epilepsy, according to results published in Epilepsy Research. Bertrand Mathon, MD, PhD, and colleagues prospectively examined psychomotor function among adults with severe drug-resistant epilepsy who were referred for VNS. The study team used the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF) test, Zazzo’s cancelation task (ZCT), the Piaget-Head test, and the paired images test to assess psychomotor functions in the preoperative period and 18 months after surgery. At 18 months after surgery, Piaget-Head scores improved by three points (P=0.008) when compared with baseline. The researchers also reported improvements on the ROCF test both in copy (+2.4 points; P=0.001) and recall (+2.0 points; P=0.008) tasks and for the paired images test (accuracy index: +28.6%; P=0.03). The efficiency Index for ZCT increased for both single (+16%; P=0.005) and dual (+17.1%; P<0.001) tasks. A total of 88.2 % of patients reported improvements in QOL.