DEBATE: Should patients with epilepsy who are depressed be routinely treated with antidepressant medication (ADM) or vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)? YES for VNS. SEE also ADM POSITION and COMMENTARY Epilepsy: Psychological Aspects
October 29, 2010 13:10Videos are not working? If the videos are not working on your computer, make sure you have installed the latest Flash Player and javascript is enabled in your browser. You can download a free version of the Adobe Flash Player here: http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Infos
| Congress: | The 4th World Congress on Controversies in Neurology (CONy) |
|---|---|
| Presenter: | E. Ben-Menachem |
| Description: | VNS is an established therapy for the treatment of epilepsy. It is also approved both in the USA and Europe as a therapy for patients with difficult to treat depression; VNS has been shown in several studies in patients with epilepsy to significantly improve mood and depression. On the contrary, antiepileptic drugs are implicated in causing depression and suicide ideation in patients with epilepsy. Therefore patients with refractory epilepsy who also have depression or other mood disorders should be given the opportunity to try VNS instead of yet another antiepileptic drug. Successful treatment could mean that patients would not have to be treated with concomitant antidepressants along side their epilepsy therapy. |
| Category: | Neurology; Epilepsy; treatment; |
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