Review of the Uses of Vagal Nerve Stimulation in Chronic Pain Management
Abstract
Recent human and animal studies provide growing evidence that vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) can deliver strong analgesic effects in addition to providing therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of refractory epilepsy and depression. Analgesia is potentially mediated by vagal afferents that inhibit spinal nociceptive reflexes and transmission and have strong anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of this review is to provide pain practitioners with an overview of VNS technology and limitations. It specifically focuses on clinical indications of VNS for various chronic pain syndromes, including fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, and headaches. We also present potential mechanisms for VNS modulation of chronic pain by reviewing both animal and human studies.
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In humans, VNS is used for the treatment of refractory depression, chronic pain, Crohn's disease, and certain epilepsies.
“In humans, VNS is used for the treatment of refractory depression (Breit et al., 2018) in addition to chronic pain (Chakravarthy et al., 2015;Ren et al., 1989) Crohn's disease (Bonaz et al., 2016), and certain epilepsies (Krahl, 2012;Penry and Dean, 1990).”
From The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis (2019) · cites this paper as Chakravarthy et al., 2015
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References 86 · Cited by 172
- Authors
- Chakravarthy, K., Chaudhry, H., Williams, K., & Christo, P. J.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Christo, Paul J.
- Venue
- Current Pain and Headache Reports
- Published
- 2015-10-22
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 54-54
- ISSN
- 1531-3433 (ISSN-L)
- 1534-3081
- OpenAlex
- W2123634302
- Cited by
- 172
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 0.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Current Pain and Headache Reports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vagus Nerve Stimulation Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- vagus nerve stimulation, chronic pain, analgesia, vagal afferents, spinal nociceptive reflex, anti-inflammatory activity, fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, headache, drug-resistant epilepsy, depression
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Disease Models, Animal, Fibromyalgia, Headache, Humans, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Pelvic Pain, Vagus Nerve Stimulation, Chronic Pain, Pain Management
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