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Reviews of "Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Respiratory Symptoms of COVID-19: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial (SAVIOR I)"

Reviewers: Abrahão Fontes Baptista (Federal University of ABC) | 📒📒📒◻️◻️ • Claire-Marie Rangon (Hospital Foundation Adolphe De Rothschild) | 📗📗📗📗◻️

Published onOct 28, 2021
Reviews of "Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Respiratory Symptoms of COVID-19: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial (SAVIOR I)"
key-enterThis Pub is a Review of
Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Respiratory Symptoms of COVID-19: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial (SAVIOR I)
Description

ABSTRACTBackgroundSevere coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is characterized, in part, by an excessive inflammatory response. Evidence from animal and human studies suggests that vagus nerve stimulation can lead to reduced levels of various pro-inflammatory cytokines. We conducted a prospective randomized controlled study (SAVIOR-I) to assess the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) for the treatment of respiratory symptoms and inflammatory markers among patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04368156).MethodsParticipants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 allocation to receive either the standard of care (SoC) alone or nVNS therapy plus the SoC. The nVNS group received 2 consecutive 2-minute doses of nVNS 3 times daily as prophylaxis. Efficacy and safety were evaluated via the incidence of specific clinical events, inflammatory biomarker levels, and the occurrence of adverse events.ResultsOf the 110 participants who were enrolled and randomly assigned, 97 (nVNS, n=47; SoC, n=50) had sufficient available data and comprised the evaluable population. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels decreased from baseline to a significantly greater degree in the nVNS group than in the SoC group at day 5 and overall (ie, all postbaseline data points collected through day 5, combined). Procalcitonin level also showed significantly greater decreases from baseline to day 5 in the nVNS group than in the SoC group. D-dimer levels were decreased from baseline for the nVNS group and increased from baseline for the SoC group at day 5 and overall, although the difference between the treatment groups did not reach statistical significance. No significant treatment differences were seen for clinical respiratory outcomes or any of the other biochemical markers evaluated. No serious nVNS-related adverse events occurred during the study.ConclusionsnVNS therapy led to significant reductions in levels of inflammatory markers, specifically CRP and procalcitonin. Because nVNS has multiple mechanisms of action that may be relevant to COVID-19, additional research into its potential to be used earlier in the course of COVID-19 and possibly mitigate some of the symptoms associated with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome is warranted.

To read the original manuscript, click the link above.

Summary of Reviews: This preprint claims that nVNS therapy has the potential to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with COVID-19. Both reviewers agree on the importance of the issues it raised. They suggested the inclusion of cost-effectiveness analysis in the ongoing SAVIOR II trial.

Reviewer 1 (Abrahão Fontes Baptista, Ph.D) | 📒📒📒 ◻️◻️

Reviewer 2 (Claire-Marie Rangon, MD, PhD) | 📗📗📗📗◻️

RR:C19 Strength of Evidence Scale Key

📕 ◻️◻️◻️◻️ = Misleading

📙📙 ◻️◻️◻️ = Not Informative

📒📒📒 ◻️◻️ = Potentially Informative

📗📗📗📗◻️ = Reliable

📘📘📘📘📘 = Strong

To read the reviews, click the links below.


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