Vagus nerve stimulation: longitudinal follow-up of XXXX treated for 5 years.

@entity1 @entity410 @entity302
We performed a retrospective, multicenter, open-label study to evaluate the efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in all @entity1 in the Czech Republic who have received this treatment for at least 5 years (n=90). The mean last follow-up was 6.6+/-1.1 years (79+/-13 months). The median number of @entity410 among all @entity1 decreased from 41.2 @entity410 /month in the prestimulation period to 14.9 @entity410 /month at 5 years follow-up visit. The mean percentage of @entity410 reduction was 55.9%. The responder rate in these @entity1 is in concordance with the decrease of overall @entity410 frequency. At 1 year after beginning the stimulation, 44.4% of @entity1 were responders; this percentage increased to 58.7% after 2 years. At the 5 years last follow-up 64.4% of @entity1 were responders, 15.5% experienced > or = 90% @entity410 reduction, and 5.5% were @entity410 -free. A separate analysis of @entity1 younger than 16 years of age showed lower efficacy rates of VNS in comparison to the whole group. Complications and chronic adverse effects occurred in 13.3% of @entity1 . VNS is an effective and safe method to @entity302 in common clinical practice.
