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The CORE-VNS study evaluated the outcomes of more than 800 people with epilepsy around the world who had been treated with vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) Therapy, produced by the US medical technology company LivaNova.
VNS therapy involves intermittently stimulating the vagus nerve to better regulate brain activity and reduce seizures in people with DRE. It is the most widely utilised form of neuromodulatory therapy for epilepsy in the United Kingdom
CORE-VNS is the largest prospective study of VNS Therapy ever conducted worldwide.
Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) was the largest recruiter to the three-year study, which was led by Arjune Sen, Professor of Global Epilepsy at the University of Oxford and Consultant Neurologist at OUH.
The CORE-VNS 36-month data analysis confirmed the effectiveness of VNS Therapy, in paediatric and adult patients, expanding on LivaNova’s earlier presentation of interim data evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment in children with focal onset seizures in December 2024.
A focal seizure is when an epileptic seizure starts in one part of the brain. When this is accompanied by confusion or a change in the person’s level of awareness, it is called a focal impaired awareness seizure. In the CORE-VNS study, a large proportion of patients of all ages said that focal onset seizures with impaired awareness (FIA) were their most disabling seizure type.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences website.