Table 1

Non-invasive vagal nerve stimulation in chronic paroxysmal hemicrania

Patient number	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Age	52	52	28	20	43	44	81	63
Sex	Male	Male	Male	Female	Female	Male	Male	Female
Duration of CPH (years)	3	11	3	6	22	11	8	5
Headache characteristics at diagnosis
Frequency	8–12/day	6–8/day	5–9/day	4–13/day	10–20/day	5–20/day	4–12/day	5–12/day
Severity (VRS)	10	5–10	7–10	8–10	6–10	4–8	10	8–10
Duration (min)	15–30	15–45	15–60	15–120	5–90	5–120	5–20	5–45
Median duration (min)	20	20	25	20	10	30	15	15
Indometacin dose	225 mg	100 mg	225 mg	75 mg	225 mg	225 mg	100 mg	225 mg
Side effects from indometacin	Severe lethargy	colitis	Severe gastrointestinal upset	Severe gastrointestinal upset	Swollen ankles and marked lethargy	Severe gastrointestinal upset	Duodenal ulcer	Severe gastrointestinal upset
Preventive treatments failed	3	4	3	3	4	5	3	1
Duration of use of VNS (months)	19	10	6	6	7	5	7	3
Baseline headaches (1 month pre-VNS)
Frequency	5–10/day	2–3/day	5/day	1–2/day	5/day	2/day	4–5/day	2–5/day
Severity (VRS)	10	2–6	7–8	8–10	4–8	5–9	10	9–10
Duration (min)	20–30	30–90	45–60	15–120	5–80	60–120	15–20	30–45
Follow-up at 3 months
Frequency	2–3 week	1/day	2/week	5/month	1/day	1–2/day	0	2–5/day
Severity (VRS)	5–6	2–3	4–5	5–9	1–2	1–2	0	9–10
Duration (min)	15–20	30–60	20–30	5–20	5–30	30–60	0	30–45
Follow-up at 6 months
Frequency	1/week	1/day	2/week	5/month	0	N/A	0	N/A
Severity (VRS)	6–7	2–4	4–5	5–9	0	N/A	0	N/A
Duration (min)	15–20	30–60	20–30	5–20	0	N/A	0	N/A
Last follow-up
Frequency	1/week	1/day	2/week	5/month	0	1-2/day	0	2–5/day
Severity (VRS)	6–7	2–4	4–5	5–9	0	1–2	0	9–10
Duration (min)	20	30–60	20–30	5–20	0	30–60	0	30–45
HIT-6
Baseline	70	59	69	74	50	48	40	74
3 months	60	55	59	31	46	48	36	76
6 months	65	54	59	30	36	N/A	36	N/A
Last follow-up	66	54	59	30	36	48	36	N/A
MIDAS
Baseline	21	5	190	71	81	0	0	105
3 months	4	5	167	68	0	0	0	120
6 months	18	5	78	67	0	N/A	0	N/A
Last follow-up	14	5	78	67	0	0	0	N/A
HADS-A
Baseline	2	9	12	17	20	2	1	18
3 months	6	6	4	18	19	0	0	17
6 months	5	6	0	19	19	N/A	0	N/A
Last follow-up	3	6	0	19	19	0	0	N/A
HADS-D
Baseline	3	6	14	14	16	2	1	15
3 months	1	5	7	14	9	0	0	16
6 months	3	5	0	15	9	N/A	0	N/A
Last follow-up	6	5	15	15	9	0	0	N/A
Patients estimate of improvement	70%	70%	90%	80%	100%	65%	100%	0%

CPH, chronic paroxysmal hemicrania; HADS-A/D, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale—Anxiety/Depression; HIT-6, Headache Impact Test-6; MIDAS, Migraine Disability Assessment; N/A, no data available; VNS, vagus nerve stimulation; VRS, verbal rating scale (0–10; 0 pain free, 10 very severe pain).