Evaluation of Quality of life in patients treated with VNS (P4.278)

Objective: This research aimed to observe the emotional aspects, quality of life and cognition of patients who have been treated with VNS for at least three months Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), three million people are affected by epilepsy in Brazil. 30% of them have refractory epilepsy. The vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an alternative treatment to traditional ablative surgery. This technic is approved by FDA to reduce the frequency of crisis since 1997 and has been adopted in Brazil since 2000. In Brazil, about 700 stimulators have been implanted in epileptic patients. However, the impact of VNS on their quality of life is still unknown. Design/Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study comparing a group of 20 patients (about 3.9% of the Brazilian VNS population) with average age of 33 years. The QOLIE-19 adapted instrument was used, which evaluates emotional aspects, activities of daily living, memory, concentration, autonomy, concern with clinical symptoms and its treatment. The group was evaluated before and after VNS implantation and compared to two control groups, one consisting of 20 patients (a = 33.17 years) with refractory epilepsy paired by age and seizures semiology, and another group comprised of 60 neurologically healthy individuals (a = 32.69 years) matched by age and sex. Results: The VNS group showed significant improvements in all aspects tested post-implant, their pre-VNS performance was similar to the epileptic control group, while the neurological healthy group presented the worst quality of life index after statistical data treatment. Conclusions: It was observed cognitive in patients with three months of VNS treatment, showing a new research niche: can vagal nerve stimulation also be used to treat cognitive problems? Disclosure: Dr. Grassi Bonamigo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Takeshita has nothing to disclose. Dr. Perboni has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kowacs has nothing to disclose. Dr. Meneses has nothing to disclose. Dr. Rocha has nothing to disclose.