TY - JOUR
T1 - The strange case of the ear and the heart: The auricular vagus nerve and its influence on cardiac control.
AU - Murray, AR
AU - Mahadi, MK
AU - Deuchars, SA
AU - Deuchars, J
AU - Atkinson, Lucy
PY - 2016/6/28
Y1 - 2016/6/28
N2 - The human ear seems an unlikely candidate for therapies aimed at improving cardiac function, but the ear and the heart share a common connection: the vagus nerve. In recent years there has been increasing interest in the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (ABVN), a unique cutaneous subdivision of the vagus distributed to the external ear. Non-invasive electrical stimulation of this nerve through the skin may offer a simple, cost-effective alternative to the established method of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which requires a surgical procedure and has generated mixed results in a number of clinical trials for heart failure. This review discusses the available evidence in support of modulating cardiac activity using this strange auricular nerve.
AB - The human ear seems an unlikely candidate for therapies aimed at improving cardiac function, but the ear and the heart share a common connection: the vagus nerve. In recent years there has been increasing interest in the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (ABVN), a unique cutaneous subdivision of the vagus distributed to the external ear. Non-invasive electrical stimulation of this nerve through the skin may offer a simple, cost-effective alternative to the established method of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which requires a surgical procedure and has generated mixed results in a number of clinical trials for heart failure. This review discusses the available evidence in support of modulating cardiac activity using this strange auricular nerve.
U2 - 10.1016/j.autneu.2016.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.autneu.2016.06.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 27388046
SN - 1566-0702
SP - 48
EP - 53
JO - Autonomic Neuroscience
JF - Autonomic Neuroscience
ER -