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Yes

Elinor Ben-Menachem, MD, PhD
From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Sahlgren University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden.

Arch Neurol. 1998;55:231-232.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

VAGUS NERVE stimulation (VNS) is a new treatment available for patients with refractory epilepsy. The first implant was performed in 1988, and since then more than 900 patients have received this therapy. There has been skepticism among epileptologists concerning VNS. Many have questioned the efficacy of this treatment, referring frequently to the disappointing results of early cerebellar and thalamus stimulation attempts. Vagus nerve stimulation has erroneously been compared with epilepsy resective surgery, and many have the opinion that VNS proponents promote using VNS rather than traditional surgery when it is indicated. Some neurosurgeons have insinuated that clinicians who use VNS are depriving their patients of the possibility of resective surgery and have not even bothered to evaluate them properly. Because of these misconceptions and heated debates, I want to make clear the distinction between resective surgery, which is a successful and superior method of treating selected . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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