Tawam Hospital Now Offers Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Therapy
In affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine, Tawam provides treatments for patients with refractory epilepsy

March 24, 2008
Al Ain, UAE

Tawam Hospital in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine, now offers a new treatment for refractory epilepsy using Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS) therapy at Neurology/ENT department/unit.

Commenting on refractory epilepsy, Mr. Michael E. Heindel, CEO of Tawam Hospital, said: "Epilepsy and its treatment can, in certain cases, be a challenge to doctors. The only nonpharmacologic treatment option for refractory epilepsy used to be surgery, however in approximately 10% to 15% of patients with this form of epilepsy neither antiepileptic medication nor resection surgery are successful. Tawam Hospital in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine is proud to be able to offer this new treatment here in AL Ain and help this significant percentage of patients. Vagal Nerve Stimulation therapy (VNS) helps patients with refractory epilepsy by decreasing seizure frequency and therefore improving their quality of life."
 
While describing the treatment, Dr. Jack Borders, Chief Medical Officer and Consultant ENT, with first-class experience in surgical procedure and having recently carried out the first VNS therapy implantation at Tawam Hospital, said: "Surgery may have been the only option in the past, yet it was not always a treatment for medically refractory seizures. VNS therapy uses a small medical device that sends electrical pulses to the left vagus nerve in the neck. This in turn delivers electrical impulses to the part of the brain where seizures are believed to start from. The VNS implant does not involve brain surgery, but is instead a standard surgical procedure in which a small incision is made in the neck and a second one is made under the skin below the collarbone where the VNS pulse generator is placed.”

Dr. Istvan Ferencz, Consultant Neurologist with extensive experience in VNS therapy and conducting the programming of the pulse generators at Tawam Hospital, added: “The VNS device is usually switched on a few days after surgery and programmed to deliver tiny electrical pulses 24 hours a day. During outpatient visits the stimulation settings are adjusted in order to get the best control and minimize seizure frequency.”

Studies have demonstrated that VNS is an effective therapy for medically refractory partial-onset seizures, decreasing seizure frequency by more than 50% in 30-40% of patients over the age of 12 years old. VNS can be described as a long-lasting, hassle-free, and on-demand therapy, with no interactions or black box warnings regarding potential life-threatening adverse effects and allows people with epilepsy to have a sense of control over their lives. VNS also appears to have some effects in others disease processes such as treatment-resistant depression and cerebella tremor in multiple sclerosis.