2023 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 11-16
Vagus nerve stimulation is an effective treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy and the number of implants is increasing year by year in Japan. However, it is difficult to adapt VNS for patients living far away from the epilepsy center because stimulus adjustment is required to be done by a committee-certified physician. To overcome this difficulty, we attempted to perform stimulus adjustment by telemedicine using a video conferencing system. Stimulus adjustment was performed by local physician under the guidance of certified epileptologist through a web conference. To clarify the efficacy, we retrospectively investigated surveys we took on local physician regarding feasibility of the adjustment, system trouble, and handling of adverse effect, urgent contact. Twelve VNS stimulus adjustment procedures by telemedicine on 3 patients were included. In all procedure, adjustment and handling of adverse effect were successful with no system trouble and no urgent contact from patient were reported. Stimulus Adjustment by telemedicine using a video conference is feasible, safe and to be considered as a clinical choice to improve the problem of difficulties in accessing epilepsy center or certified epileptologist.
