Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation: the future of inflammatory bowel disease treatment?
Bruno BonazPublished in: Bioelectronic medicine (2023)
The vagus nerve regulates inflammation and cytokine release through the inflammatory reflex. Recent pilot clinical trials using implantable bioelectronic devices have demonstrated the efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in adult patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) as an alternative to drug treatments. However, the use of non-invasive VNS should be of interest in adults with IBD and even more in pediatric IBD. In this issue of Bioelectronic Medicine, Sahn et al. report that non-invasive transcutaneous auricular VNS attenuated signs and symptoms in a pediatric cohort with mild to moderate IBD thus opening new therapeutic avenues in the management of pediatric but also adult IBD patients.
Keyphrases
- ulcerative colitis
- clinical trial
- oxidative stress
- end stage renal disease
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- peritoneal dialysis
- randomized controlled trial
- prognostic factors
- study protocol
- physical activity
- patient reported outcomes
- depressive symptoms
- emergency department
- combination therapy
- young adults
- phase ii
- replacement therapy
- smoking cessation