1Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto.
2Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto; and.
Neurosurg Focus. 2018 Sep;45(3):E2. doi: 10.3171/2018.6.FOCUS18216.
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is increasingly considered for the treatment of intractable epilepsy and holds potential for the management of a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions. The emergence of the field of connectomics and the introduction of large-scale modeling of neural networks has helped elucidate the underlying neurobiology of VNS, which may be variably expressed in patient populations and related to responsiveness to stimulation. In this report, the authors outline current data on the underlying neural circuitry believed to be implicated in VNS responsiveness in what the authors term the "vagus afferent network." The emerging role of biomarkers to predict treatment effect is further discussed and important avenues for future work are highlighted.
迷走神经刺激（VNS）越来越被认为是治疗难治性癫痫的一种方法，并且有可能用于治疗各种神经精神疾病。连接组学领域的出现和神经网络的大规模建模的引入，有助于阐明 VNS 的潜在神经生物学，这在患者人群中可能表现不同，并且与对刺激的反应性相关。在本报告中，作者概述了目前认为与刺激反应性相关的潜在神经回路的相关数据，作者称之为“迷走传入网络”。进一步讨论了生物标志物预测治疗效果的新兴作用，并强调了未来工作的重要途径。
