The Facilitative Effects of Left-side Vagus Nerve Magnetic Modulation on Upper Extremity Motor Function in Stroke Patients

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to conducted a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of Vague Nerve Magnetic Modulation (VNMM) treatment on upper extremity motor function in stroke patients. Methods: A total of 44 stroke patients with upper extremity motor impairment were enrolled and randomly assigned to either a real VNMM group (N = 22) or a sham VNMM group (N = 22). The intervention consisted of 5-Hz VNMM applied to the left vagus nerve, which administered five days per week for a duration of four weeks. All patients underwent evaluations including Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and parameters of Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) at baseline and post-intervention. Results: All participants tolerated the intervention well throughout the study. The findings demonstrated that a four-week course of VNMM was feasible for addressing upper extremity motor impairment in stroke patients. Significant improvements were noted in all outcome measures in both the real and sham VNMM groups. However, the magnitude of improvement was significantly greater in the real VNMM group compared to the sham VNMM group ( P  < 0.001). Analysis of covariance further confirmed that the improvements in all outcomes were more pronounced in the real VNMM group following treatment compared to the sham group. Notably, neither disease duration nor baseline disease severity was found to correlate with the efficacy of VNMM. Conclusion: Our study concluded that VNMM represents a safe and feasible treatment option for stroke patients with upper extremity motor dysfunction.