Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an accepted therapy for the treatment of refractory forms of epilepsy and depression. The brain-gut axis is increasingly being studied as a possible etiological factor of chronic inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). A significant percentage of IBD patients lose response to treatments or experience side effects. In this perspective, VNS has shown the first efficacy data. The aim of this narrative review is to underline the biological plausibility of the use of VNS in patients affected by IBD, collect all clinical data in the literature, and hypothesize a target IBD population on which to focus the next clinical study.
Keywords: Crohn’s disease; Cyberonics; IL-1β; acetyl-choline; central autonomic network; cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway; corticotropin-releasing factor; ulcerative colitis; α7 nicotinic ACh receptor.