Background: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is used currently in the management of drug-refractory epilepsy (DRE), and is in development for treating chronic heart failure (HF). HF is accompanied by autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction, consisting of sustained sympathetic hyper-activation and withdrawal of parasympathetic tone, and associated with progressive worsening of cardiovascular (CV) function and increased morbidity and mortality. We sought to compare how VNS is utilized for DRE and may potentially be employed for HF.
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