Intraoperative nerve stimulation during vagal nerve stimulator placement

BACKGROUND: Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) is a palliative treatment for refractory epilepsy and intraoperative nerve stimulation is applied to the vagal and other nerves to prevent electrode misplacement. We evaluated these thresholds to establish intraoperative monitoring procedures for VNS surgery. METHODS: Forty-six patients who underwent intraoperative nerve stimulation during VNS placement were enrolled. The vagal nerve and other exposed nerves were electrically stimulated during surgery, and muscle contraction was confirmed by electromyography of the vocal cords and visual recognition of cervical muscle contraction. The nerve thresholds and the most sensitive parts of the vagal nerve were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The stimulation of vagal nerves induced vocal cord responses in all 46 patients; the median thresholds of the most sensitive parts and all parts were 0.2 mA (range: 0.05–0.75 mA) and 0.25 mA (range: 0.15–1.5 mA), respectively. The medial middle region was identified as the most sensitive part of the vagal nerve in the majority of participants (82.5%). In 11 patients, other cervical nerves were stimulated and sternohyoid muscle contraction was induced with a median threshold of 0.35 mA (range: 0.1–0.7 mA) in eight patients, while sternocleidomastoid muscle contraction was induced with a median threshold of 0.2 mA (range: 0.1–0.2 mA) in three. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative stimulation of vagal nerves induces vocal cord responses with locational variations, and the middle part stimulation could minimize the stimulus intensities. The nerves innervating the sternohyoid and sternocleidomastoid muscles may be exposed during the procedure. Knowledge of these characteristics will enhance the effectiveness of this technique in future applications.