electroCore: Results Of A Case Series On Non-Invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation To Treat Severe Gastroparesis With The Gammacore Device Presented At The British Society Of Gastroenterology Meeting In Manchester

Manchester: Patients with severe gastroparesis have shown clinically meaningful improvement, after self- administering, non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) therapy with a gammaCore device according to a poster presented on June 18th at the British Society of Gastroenterology annual meeting, in Manchester. The case series was presented by the Centre for Gastroenterology, based at the Royal Free Hospital, in London, managed by Professor Owen Epstein.

gammaCore, from electroceutical company electroCore, in New Jersey, is a CE marked, hand-held nVNS device which works by selectively stimulating particular fibers in the vagus nerve. Symptom improvement, the poster states, is likely to be due to a central antinociceptive - reducing sensitivity to painful stimuli- effect modulated by the nVNS therapy.

The fifteen patients, who were initially chosen for the study, had severe gastroparesis and were awaiting surgery. They were experiencing nausea, bloating and early satiety. Seven of these patients complied with the treatment regimen for a sustained period.

The treatment was self-administered by the patient positioning the gammaCore device over the vagus nerve in the neck. Initially, three applications of 90 seconds each were given which was increased or decreased according to symptom severity over an average duration of 67 days.

A gastroparesis multi-symptom questionnaire that includes the symptoms of nausea, vomiting, early satiety and bloating, was completed daily by each patient from the week prior to starting treatment and daily throughout the treatment period. Symptoms were scored on a Likert scale (1 = none and 5 = severe). Composite and individual symptom scores were summated for the week preceding treatment and the final two weeks of the treatment period. .

The patients who complied with the treatment showed clinically meaningful improvement of their symptoms. This helped to lessen the effects of nausea, early satiety and bloating and improved their composite gastroparesis score by twenty percent.

Professor Owen Epstein commented: “This initial proof of concept assessment was very encouraging. We are now initiating a well controlled, double blind, sham controlled clinical trial using gammaCore in patients who have either IBS or functional dyspepsia.”

ElectroCore's proprietary, non-invasive electrical stimulation therapy works by activating specific fibers in the vagus nerve. This activation is believed to cause the release of inhibitory neurotransmitters within the central nervous system, and reduces the over expression of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, which has been implicated in a number of different disorders.

FOR MEDIA INFORMATION:
Simon Vane Percy
Vane Percy & Roberts
(T) +44 (0) 1737 821890
(e) simon@vanepercy.com

Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.