Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) is a proven and safe technology to treat drugs resistant epilepsy (DRE) in children. The reduction ≥50% in baseline seizure frequency range among 43,8% at 24 months (percentage of seizures freedom in 8.2%) (1), 60.1% at 24 months (2) and 54% % at the 5th year (3).
The prediction of the efficacy of VNS is still difficult and only the duration of active epilepsy before the implantation seems to correlate with better outcomes: short time before the implant (4) or age < 5 years (5) are highlighted as the the only variable significantly predicting favorable outcome.
In UE rare diseases are considered those having a prevalence < 5/10000 inhabitants and epilepsy or drug resistant epilepsy is often one of the main features in the phenotype.