Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41717404›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in oncology2026

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in breast cancer: a neuroimmune model to improve quality of life.

Melissa Do, William J Tyler

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
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

2 authors.

Melissa DoDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Engineering, Birmingham, AL, United States.
William J TylerDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Engineering, Birmingham, AL, United States.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Breast cancer care has shifted beyond remission toward optimizing long-term physiological, emotional, and functional recovery. Many survivors continue, however, to experience persistent symptom clusters, such as insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, pain, depression, and cognitive impairment. These poor quality of life outcomes reflect underlying dysregulation of autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune systems. Autonomic imbalance characterized by vagal withdrawal and sympathetic hyperactivation is linked to increased inflammatory load, impaired stress regulation, disrupted sleep, and poorer survival outcomes. Given the role of the vagus nerve in coordinating brain-body signaling and immune modulation, transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) has emerged as a promising intervention to restore autonomic balance and attenuate psychophysiological burdens. Evidence suggests that tVNS modulates locus coeruleus-norepinephrine activity, regulates arousal and sleep, reduces fatigue and anxiety, enhances cognitive function, and activates the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways. Supported by mechanistic and clinical evidence, we propose tVNS as a precision-guided bioelectronic strategy for improving survivorship outcomes in breast cancer.

Indexed as

anxietyautonomic regulationbreast cancerfatigueinflammationinsomniaquality of lifevagus nerve stimulation

Identifiers

PMID41717404
PMCPMC12913136

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.