Vagus Nerve Stimulation(VNS) As Treatment For Fibromyalgia Patients
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome with clinical symptoms involving multiple systems. The efficacy of current treatments is inadequate, and more alternative modalities are needed for the management of FM patients. The parasympathetic vagus nerve innervates and integrates sensory, motor, and autonomic systems and has been suggested to play a role in pain modulation. The role of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as a treatment option for FM patients is yet to be investigated. The investigators propose to examine the hypothesis that vagus nerve stimulation could improve pain and related comorbid symptoms for FM patients.
• Subject is 18 to 80 years old, including both male and female subjects.
• Subject has a documented diagnosis of FM for at least three months. This requirement is to avoid the uncertainty of an unstable pain condition and to minimize the study variation.
• Subject has a pain score of 4 or above (numeric pain score: 0 - 10 from no pain to worst pain).