Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39448636›Full record

ArticleNPJ Parkinson's disease2024

Vagus nerve stimulation in Parkinson's disease: a scoping review of animal studies and human subjects research.

Alexandra Evancho, Melissa Do, Damiana Fortenberry, Rebecca Billings, Alibek Sartayev, William J Tyler

Registry-linked trialAbstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in NPJ Parkinson's disease, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07226284 (The Effects of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Intrinsic Lower Leg Spinal Motoneuron Excitability in Parkinson's Disease.), which is not on this map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07226284 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

The Effects of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Intrinsic Lower Leg Spinal Motoneuron Excitability in Parkinson's Disease.

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of MinnesotaRan2026 to 2029Enrolled75ConditionsPARKINSON DISEASE (Disorder), Parkinson's Disease (PD)ArmsVagal nerve stimulation, No intervention
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Movement Disorders, from Principles to a Systematic Review of Evidence.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2025
    Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Alexandra EvanchoUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions, Birmingham, AL, USA. amelgin@uab.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6850-8316
Melissa DoUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham School of Engineering, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Damiana FortenberryUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham Libraries, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Rebecca BillingsUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham Libraries, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Alibek SartayevUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Birmingham, AL, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-4711-0977
William J TylerUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions, Birmingham, AL, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a prevalent, progressive neurodegenerative disease with motor and non-motor symptoms. Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) has emerged as a potential therapeutic approach for PD, but published research on this topic varies widely. This scoping review maps existing literature on VNS for PD, highlighting stimulation methods, operational parameters, safety profiles, neurophysiological mechanisms, and clinical outcomes in human and animal models. Online databases were used to identify 788 papers published between 2013 and 2023, from which 17 publications on invasive and non-invasive VNS in PD were selected. Studies showed high variability in VNS parameters and study design. Evidence in animal models and human subjects suggests potential neurophysiological effects on PD-related pathology and motor function improvements. However, significant gaps in the literature remain. Future research should include rigorous reporting of study design, standardization of stimulation parameters, and larger sample sizes to ultimately facilitate translation of VNS into clinical practice.

Identifiers

PMID39448636
PMCPMC11502766

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.