Abstracts

Rationale: Retrospective chart review of all adult patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy and learning disabilities treated with adjunctive VNS Therapy during 18 months at the Burden Centre of the Frenchay Hospital (UK). Methods: From a total of 46 patients (26 M, 20 F), 41 had enough data for analysis after 18 months of follow-up. Mean age at implantation: 36.6 +/- 10.47; median: 38 years (range, 16-59). Mean number of seizures/month at baseline: 34.6 +/- 38.66 (median, 17.5; range, 2 - 165; N=46). Most patients had multiple seizure types, mainly generalized tonic-clonic and complex partial.Results: After 6 months of adjunctive VNS Therapy, mean and median seizure reductions were 28.5% (7.3; 49.8) and 42.3%, respectively (N=34); after 12 months, 39.2% (25.9; 52.4) and 41.9% (N=30); after 18 months, 44% (30.7; 57.7) and 58.8% (N=41). The number of seizures was significantly reduced from baseline at 6, 12, and 18 months (p= 0.0014, 0.0007 and 0.0003, respectively). Mean number of seizures/month after 18 months was 20.9 +/- 39.04 (median, 7; range, 0 - 203; N=41). One patient (2.4% (0.0; 7.4)) was seizure free after 18 months of treatment. Seizure reduction >=50% occurred in 47.1% (29.4; 64.7), 46.7% (27.7; 65.6) and 58.5% (42.8; 74.3) of the patients after 6, 12 and 18 months, respectively. Adverse events were usually mild and tended to decrease over time. VNS Therapy was explanted in two patients (4.3%) due to infection. Conclusions: These results confirm the efficacy and safety of VNS Therapy for patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy and learning disabilities.