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| James Wheless, professor and chief of the Department of Pediatric Neurology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, gives a lecture at Seoul National University Hospital, May 9. Courtesy of Dongsan Hearing |
By Jun Ji-hye
James Wheless, professor and chief of the Department of Pediatric Neurology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, gave lectures earlier this month at Korean hospitals on vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), a technique for treating people with epilepsy.
Dongsan Hearing, Korea's sole VNS provider, said Wednesday that Wheless, a recognized authority on seizure disorders and epilepsy in children and adolescents, visited Seoul National University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital and Gachon University Gil Medical Center to give his lectures from May 8 to 10.
Wheless, who also chairs the Division of Pediatric Neurology at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, visited Korea for the first time at the invitation of Dongsan Hearing and LivaNova, a global medical device company.
During his lectures, Wheless shared his knowledge and knowhow with Korean doctors specializing in neurology and pediatric neurology about the effectiveness of VNS therapy and how to optimize the dosing of VNS for each patient.
Wheless has carried out various clinical studies about epilepsy treatment including drug therapy, the ketogenic diet, epilepsy surgery and magnetoencephalography as well as VNS.
In particular, he has practiced VNS therapy for more than 1,500 patients suffering from epilepsy.
He expressed hope that his studies concerning VNS therapy may help Korean patients suffering from epilepsy reduce the number of seizures and the length and severity of seizures that do occur, and improve post-seizure recovery.
He also noted that the therapy is a procedure, not a surgery, thus comparatively simple and safe.
According to Dongsan Hearing, VNS involves using a device to stimulate the vagus nerve with electrical impulses.
More than 200,000 patients from some 70 countries have received VNS therapy, including more than 1,300 patients in Korea.
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