In the retro-olivary groove (Arana & Rebollo, 1979; Bustamante, 2007) or post-olivary fissure, the vagus nerve is found, which emerges behind the olive, as do the glossopharyngeal and accessory nerves (Carpenter, 1994).
The following descriptions are made with regard to the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve comes from the medulla oblongata, behind the olive (Sinelnikov, 1977) or lateral to it (Afifi & Bergman, 2006; Monkhouse, 2006; Snell), or in the upper third of its side (Rubin & Safdieh; Tubbs et al.).
The direct cervical stimulation of the vagus nerve at the cervical level was approved a few years ago by the Food and Drug Administration of USA as a viable alternative for the treatment of adult and adolescent epilepsy refractory crisis [1].
One of these alternatives is the transcutaneous stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (ABVN), also known as Alderman's nerve or Arnold's nerve.
Anatomy of the vagus nerves in the region of the lower esophagus and the stomach.
The distribution of the vagus nerves in the stomach.
The most common non-medical treatments currently used are vagus nerve stimulation and the ketogenic diet.
What is vagus nerve stimulation and how does it work?
Mehdi Djelloul, a postdoctoral researcher, described the anatomical connection between the gut and the brain and presented concrete studies that illustrate the role of the
vagus nerve under inflammatory conditions and how the microbiota is involved in this process, while giving clinical examples that could benefit from modulating the gut-brain-axis.
The FDA approved the first surgically implanted vagus nerve stimulator for epilepsy in 1997.
Silencing norepinephrine-producing brain cells in rats erased the antidepressant effect of vagus nerve stimulation, scientists reported in the Journal of Psychiatric Research in September.
In the United States, only about 3,000 epilepsy surgeries are performed annually and only about an additional 3,500
vagus nerve stimulators are placed each year.