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CASE REPORT article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1473535

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for long-term post-stroke cognitive impairment: a DTI case report

Provisionally accepted
Xixi Chen Xixi Chen 1Zhiqing ZHOU Zhiqing ZHOU 1Kayee Chong Kayee Chong 1Jingjun Zhao Jingjun Zhao 2Yuwei Wu Yuwei Wu 3Meng Ren Meng Ren 1Yu Huang Yu Huang 1Songmei Chen Songmei Chen 4Chunlei Shan Chunlei Shan 5*
  • 1 Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
  • 2 Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 3 Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
  • 4 Shanghai No.3 Rehabilitation Hospital, Shanghai, China
  • 5 School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Long-term post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) exhibits an accelerated rate of long-term cognitive decline, which can impair communication, limit social engagement, and increase rate of institutional dependence. The aim of this case report is to provide evidence for the potential of home-based transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) for home-bound patients with severe, long-term PSCI.Methods: A 71-year-old male suffered a stroke two and a half years ago, which imaging reported foci of cerebral infarction visible in the left temporal and parietal lobes. The patient was performed taVNS twice a day for 30 min, 5 times a week for 8 weeks. The patient was evaluated the changes of cognitive function and brain white matter at 4 time points: baseline (t0), 4 weeks 2 without taVNS after baseline (t1), 4 weeks of intervention (t2), and 8 weeks of intervention (t3).The effect of taVNS on white matter changes was visualized by DTI.Results: After 8 weeks of taVNS treatment, the scores of Montreal cognitive assessment improved and the time to complete the shape trails test decreased. The DTI results showed that white matter in bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex remodeled after taVNS.Eight-week home-based taVNS may be beneficial to long-term PSCI. Further studies of home-based taVNS treating patients with long-term PSCI are needed.

    Keywords: Long-term post-stroke cognitive impairment, home-based, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), Fractional Anisotropy (FA)

    Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, ZHOU, Chong, Zhao, Wu, Ren, Huang, Chen and Shan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chunlei Shan, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200025, Shanghai Municipality, China

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