Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) was first delivered to patients over 25 years ago with the first patient being implanted in 1988. European Community approval was granted in 1994 and USA (FDA) commercial approval in 19971. VNS currently has a licence in Europe and the UK for the adjunctive treatment of epilepsy refractory to antiepileptic medication. The UK NICE Guidelines for Epilepsy (2012) sugg...

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE This Medical Policy provides assistance in interpreting UnitedHealthcare benefit plans. When deciding coverage, the enrollee specific document must be referenced. The terms of an enrollee's document (e.g., Certificate of Coverage (COC) or Summary Plan Description (SPD) and Medicaid State Contracts) may differ greatly from the standard benefit plans upon which this Medical P...

The services described in Oxford policies are subject to the terms, conditions and limitations of the Member's contract or certificate. Unless otherwise stated, Oxford policies do not apply to Medicare Advantage enrollees. Oxford reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify policies as necessary without prior written notice unless otherwise required by Oxford's administrative procedure...

Neural circuits regulate cytokine production to prevent potentially damaging inflammation. A prototypical vagus nerve circuit, the inflammatory reflex, inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α production in spleen by a mechanism requiring acetylcholine signaling through the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expressed on cytokine-producing macrophages. Nerve fibers in spleen lack the enzymatic machine...

An electrophysiological study has been made on the central relay pathway of the vago-vagal reflexes with special reference to those evoked by afferent stimulation of the abdominal vagus in cats under chloralose (50mg/kg i.v.) anesthesia. 1. Stimulation of the central cut end of the cervical or thoracic vagus nerve produced three mass reflex discharges in the contralateral cervical vagus nerve. ...

Reported are a total of 81 microsurgical operations for cranial nerve root decompression comprising of 66 trigeminal, 10 facial, one vestibular, one vagus and three accessory nerve dysfunction syndromes from 1983 to 1990. Almost all cases of trigeminal neuralgia (TNG) secondary to vascular (59 cases) and minute mass (10 cases) compression, and those with hemifacial spasm (HFS) (nine out o...

The canine cervical trachea has been used for numerous studies regarding the neural control of tracheal smooth muscle. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether there is lateral dominance by either the left or right vagal innervation of the canine cervical trachea. In anesthetized dogs, pressure in the cuff of the endotracheal tube was used as an index of smooth muscle tone in t...