AUTHOR=Yu Yutian , Yang Yi , Gan Shuoqiu , Guo Shengnan , Fang Jiliang , Wang Shouyan , Tang Chunzhi , Bai Lijun , He Jianghong , Rong Peijing 

TITLE=Cerebral Hemodynamic Correlates of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation in Consciousness Restoration: An Open-Label Pilot Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2021.684791

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2021.684791

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<p>This study aimed to preliminarily illustrate the cerebral hemodynamic correlates of transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS) in consciousness restoration. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) was adopted with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes before and after taVNS in 10 qualified patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Before taVNS, five patients responded to auditory stimuli (RtAS), and five did not respond to auditory stimuli (nRtAS). The RtAS DOC patients obtained favorable prognoses after the 4-week taVNS treatment, whereas the nRtAS ones did not. Simultaneously, taVNS increased CBF of multiple brain regions in the RtAS DOC patients, but hardly in the nRtAS ones. In conclusion, the preserved auditory function might be the prior key factor of the taVNS responders in DOC patients, and taVNS might alleviate RtAS DOC by activating the salience network, the limbic system, and the interoceptive system.</p>