Treatment Prospects: Vagus Nerve Stimulation

Absolutely . Please keep us informed.

I would also take part in the trials, but unfortunately they don't plan in Europe anymore. The one in Belgium is already done.

 

6cm incision in the neck and 3cm in the chest, well for a pioneering technology, this doesn't seem really invasive

I guess they'll probably do some smaller incisions in the future if this works

 

What about all us that don't have tonal quality? Any hope for us?

 

I think the only reason they're accepting patients with tonal T at the moment is because it's easier to measure the before/after effects. If the treatment actually works, it should be effective regardless of the quality of one's T. I think they'd have a real doozy trying to measure it's effectiveness on someone like me, since my T changes from day to day and hour to hour.

I think so far the only major deterrent to a treatment like this is major hearing loss.

 

I'm moving to Austin, TX in March... do I sign up for this? :| :| :|

 

Im not sure whether this has been posted already, however here is an article of the outcome of the study:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/releases/ut-dallas-study-initial-success-12365

 

26 dB reduction? so if your t is less than 26 dB you could be cured?

 

Sorry, got your answer wrong. I have no idea, however I think it depends on the person and since it so random (works for some and others not as well) it may be a cure for some but hardly for everyone.

 

I also signed up and was contacted, but after some thought, I did respond to sound therapy, and my left ear which has the tinnitus is deaf at the 80 db scale, so I chose not to continue, I would barely make the cut off, and did not want to skew the research data.

 

I tried t-VNS a couple of times in Helsinki, Finland. A small iPod-nano like USB-charged device that was attached to my ear which I could use to conduct electricity to the vagus nerve. The local tinnitus clinic is selling these. They claim it can help - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23237096

 

sorry but at least you can tell us if it worked or not or what your experience is ... advertisement for products on our tinnitus community makes me quit annoyed with those who do it because they are so insensitive to what we go through. So please come up with more than a link. If you really had tinnitus and this helped you would be yelling it from the roofs. I don`t want to know what they claim, I want to know what you think!

 

I only tried it a couple of times as I said. I never really used it for longer periods. The device itself really works - no question about that. You can REALLY feel the electricity as it spikes through the vagus nerve, especially if it's set too high. Then you lower it to the level where you feel it, but it doesn't hurt. One should probably also use sound therapy at the same time you use the t-VNS.

I might buy the device in the future and then really start to use it. I don't know yet. It costs about ~400€ if I remember correctly. The Helsinki Tinnitus Clinic is an honest professional place imho, so I don't personally doubt their trials mentioned in the pubmed article.

 

I also am interested in VNS research, as I think it has good potential FOR SOME, as Stina said. I think ultimately, they will find different treatments will work on different tinnitus patients, given that it seems this symptom has its roots in many different causes.

Anyway, can anyone answer this question for me, which I also have posed to MicroTransponder: I have a metal clip in my brain, the result of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm in 1999. Can I use this technology? My clip disqualifies me from similar electrical stimulation devices, such as the electro-magnetic stimulation units they have tried on some tinnitus patients. I read through the criteria on the upcoming clinical trial, but saw no direct reference to metal brain implants that were not active devices, like pacemakers.

Thanks.

 

I don't have a definitive answer for you, but my strong suspicion is that your metal clip would not be a problem with VNS. I believe the issue with electro-magnet stimulation is that the metal can either be heated up by current flowing through it, or pulled out of place my magnetic forces. With EMS either of those would be possible. Electric stimulation for the treatment of tinnitus, depression, anxiety, etc. is usually applied with wet electrodes applied to both sides of the head. The current flows from one electrode to the other. There is nothing that controls the path of the current through your brain though; it could go through the clip and heat up. Magnetic stimulation is similar in that there is nothing to protect the clip from moving via the magnetic forces. In the case of VNS, it would be very unlikely for the electrical current to flow to your head unless they place an electrode there, and I doubt they do. I don't exactly know where the stimulating device is placed, but I believe it is somewhere below the neck since the vagus nerve exists the spine somewhere in the neck.

 

Thanks for the reply, @mick. Yeah, I can't have an MRI due to the clip, for the above reasons you describe. There is a chance of it moving, which would NOT be good for my brain. I actually asked about having my metal clip replaced with the newer plastic versions, but neurologists have told me it would be way too risky to even consider.

 

http://breakthroughs.kera.org/tinnitus/

 

This trial is now taking place in the United States. I see that Iowa City, Iowa and Buffalo, New York are two of the treatment locations.

They are recruiting candidates at this time.

 

Just saw this on the American Tinnitus Association site:

http://www.tinnitustrial.com/

 

This is the vagus nerve stimulation trial, I think I posted something about this in another thread. They are currently recruiting people in Buffalo, NY, Iowa City, Iowa and Dallas, Texas. I live in Iowa so if anyone heads through to participate in this trial, feel free to hit me up!

 

Friday 22 November 2013 - 3am PST

The results of a small clinical trial to test the safety of a new treatment for tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, showed positive results according to a study newly published online in the journal Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface.

Led by the University of Texas at Dallas, the trial showed that vagus nerve stimulation-tone therapy is safe for the treatment of tinnitus and brought significant improvement to some participants.

The new treatment combines vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) with auditory tones to alleviate the symptoms of chronic tinnitus.

Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve
VNS therapy is an FDA-approved treatment for epilepsy,depression and other illnesses. It mildly stimulates the vagus nerve, whose job is to update the brain on the state of the body.

The electrical stimulation is delivered using an electrical pulse generator which is connected to the vagus nerve inside the neck via implanted electrodes.

One of the trial investigators, Dr. Sven Vanneste of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UT Dallas, says the main goal of the trial was to evaluate the safety of VNS-tone therapy in tinnitus patients, and they found it was safe, with no adverse events.

He says tinnitus affects more than 12 million Americans severely enough to seek medical help. Two million sufferers are so disabled by the ringing in the ears that they can't function normally. And unfortunately, there is no consistently effective treatment.

Safety results 'not surprising'
As far as safety was concerned, the results of the trial were not surprising, explains Dr. Vanneste, because:

"VNS-tone therapy was expected to be safe because it requires less than 1 percent of the VNS approved by the FDA for the treatment of intractable epilepsy and depression."

For the study, which was carried out at the University Hospital Antwerp, Belgium, ten patients with tinnitus were implanted with a stimulation electrode directly on the vagus nerve in the neck.

Then every day for 20 days they attended the clinic to receive 2.5 hours of VNS treatment delivered by a pulse generator linked up to the implanted electrode. The treatment was accompanied by sounds that excluded tones matched to those arising from the tinnitus.

The patients had been suffering from tinnitus for at least a year before taking part in the trial, and had experienced no benefit from other therapies, including audiological, drug or neuromodulation treatments.

Half the patients experienced large reductions in tinnitus symptoms
The results showed that half of the patients experienced large reductions in their tinnitus symptoms:

• Three patients showed a 44% reduction in the impact of the illness on daily living.
• Four patients experienced clinically significant reductions in perceived loudness of the tinnitus of 26 decibels.

However, five patients, all of whom were on medication for other conditions, did not experience significant changes. The four who did experience significant improvement were not using any medications.

The investigators suggest drug interactions may interfere with the effects of the VNS-tone treatment.

Dr. Vanneste says:

"In all, four of the ten patients showed relevant decreases on tinnitus questionnaires and audiological measures. The observation that these improvements were stable for more than 2 months after the end of the 1-month therapy is encouraging."

Next steps: larger trial and implantable pulse generators
A larger trial across four different treatment centers is to start soon in the US.

The team suggests while their small trial used electrical stimulation supplied by an external pulse generator, with more research it should be possible to use implanted generators, so patients do not have to attend the clinic to receive the VNS-tone treatment.

In 2012 in The Lancet, Dutch researchers described another promising treatment for tinnitus. They showed that cognitive behavior therapy in addition to sound-based therapy was considerably more effective at reducing symptoms of tinnitus than existing treatments.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD


Source:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/269207.php

 

I responded to the MicroTransponder email, but I guess it says within 200 miles, so I am eliminated (285 miles) from Iowa City.

 

You can use my address as your place of residence if you want, I live in Des Moines, well within the limits of the study. I'll PM you if my address if you are interested. haha

 

I don't know if they will go for that. Are you not interested @Hudson? or are you looking at a different trial?

 

It's not that I'm not interested, but I really don't fit the criteria for that study. They want people with "tonal" tinnitus... mine is of the static/hissing type. On top of that, they don't want anyone who is taking any "neuromodulating" medications. I take a couple psychiatric medications to deal with anxiety.

 

Is T the reason for your anxiety? How loud is your T? (do you only hear it in a silent room etc)

 

Look up vagus nerve stimulation Tinnitus
Its coming.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.f57c40c34c2baca8600a698953d82048.1e1

Tinnitus Research - Brief Overview

 

Love this post

 

Lol just saw this and seriously smiled like crazy thanks for reposting this cause yesss there is hope coming in all forms!!!!!

 

I'm pretty sure they started trials on this. Found the link http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2013/1...-Positive-Results-for-Tinnitu_story-wide.html

 

LOVE THIS