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Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is safe and beneficial for some patients with Alzheimer disease, according to a report in the August 2006 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Alzheimer's patients may benefit from the electricity that stimulates the vagus nerve, an important cranial nerve that originates in the brain and extends to organs in the chest and abdomen.
An important study primarily showed that VNS is well tolerated and safe in patients with Alzheimer's disease for up to 12 months. Furthermore, the study gave an indication that it VNS may be of benefit, as a cognitive enhancing therapy. Just over 40% of patients showed improvement or no decline in the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) after 1 year of treatment, the results indicate, and 70.6% had improvement or no decline from baseline on the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE).
It is important to emphasize that VNS is not an approved therapy for Alzheimer's disease, but that the study was performed in order to evaluate if it was safe and tolerated and if could bring any benefit to patients with a severe chronic neurodegenerative disorder. Clearly neuromodulation and implantable medical devices are the next frontier in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The pharmaceutical industry has failed to produce a drug that has the ability to target those key areas of the brain implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
As with all pioneering treatments, further studies will be required before the treatment is FDA approved. The National Institute of Health has a keen interest in this therapy and has provided grant money for further studies of this very potentially important therapy to so many patients and their family members.
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