Initial Success With New Therapy Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation

Christopher DeGiorgio and colleagues report results of stimulating the trigeminal nerve on the forehead to control seizures. The advantage over vagus nerve stimulation is ability to stimulate non-invasively through the skin of the forehead to test response to therapy. If it helps, then stimulators can be implanted under the skin. At 3 months, 12 subjects showed reduction of average seizure frequency from a baseline of 2.1 seizures/day to 0.71 seizures/day, a 66% reduction. A controlled study with a placebo group is being planned, supported by the Epilepsy Therapy Project and other agencies.