Transcutaneous electric stimulation of RESULTS

the vagus nerve as a treatment for

migraine - A systematic review EVENT PREMIUM
69 articles were found and 3 clinical trials included. There was no
Sena G. F.; Kouassi A. C. M. A.; Pinheiro R. M. V.; Neves A. S. L. N.; Thomaz T. G.; notable reduction in headache days per month between groups of
Silva J. S. >= 15 headache days (-1,4 vs -0,2 p = 0,56) or 5 to 12 migraine days
(-2,73 vs -2,11 p = 0,10) per month when compared to sham. Acute Preventive treatment
INTRODUCTION
pain relief was obtained at 30 min (12,7% vs 4,2% p = 0,012) and 60
Reduction of the number of
min (21% vs 10% p = 0,023) after stimulation versus control. No headache days in a month after
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) refers to any technique that significant effect was reported at 120 min (30,4% vs 19,7% p = 0,067). VNS

stimulates the VN. It’s currently used for refractory epilepsy and
other diseases. Recent studies showed VN involvement in
inflammation, mood and pain regulation. Therefore, VNS could
possibly relieve migraine attacks. Our aim was to investigate
whether transcutaneous VNS reduces or relieves migraine attacks
with and without aura.
Common device related adverse events: application site discomfort
(3,43%); pain (1,74%); and dizziness (1,74%). Usual adverse events:
nasopharyngitis (9,66%); oropharyngeal pain (5,30%); and influenza
(5,27%). PRESTO

Identification
Acute Treatment
69 articles 30 duplicates and 3
found inaccessible removed Pain reduction or total
relief after 30, 60 and
120 minutes after VNS

Screening
Figure 3: Included articles summary.

33 excluded (incorrect
36 titles and
design, population or
abstracs screened
intervention) CONCLUSION

Figure 1: gammaCore, a VNS device .

Collected data indicates that VNS was safe, effective at reducing pain
in migraine attacks but was not able to reduce the number of
Included

METHODS 3 articles headache days in a month.

included

A review using the PRISMA guidelines was performed in PUBmed,

BVS, EMBASE and SCOPUS, using the key-words: “Vagus Nerve

SECNEREFER
Figure 2: Identification of studies via database.
Stimulation”, “Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation”,
“Migraine Disorders”, joined by the operator “AND”.