Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.

Sec. Autonomic Neuroscience

Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1644961

This article is part of the Research TopicExpanding Therapeutic Horizons with Non-Invasive Vagus Nerve StimulationView all 11 articles

Combined Minimally Invasive Vagal Cranial Nerve and Trigeminocervical Complex Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Produces Prolonged improvement of Severe Painful Peripheral Neuropathy and Hyperglycemia in Type 2 Diabetes

Provisionally accepted
Peter  S StaatsPeter S Staats1,2*Alyssa  STAATSAlyssa STAATS2,3Brittny  MikhaielBrittny Mikhaiel2,4Jason  Chen, DOJason Chen, DO2,5Eric  AZABOUEric AZABOU2,6,7Claire Marie  RangonClaire Marie Rangon2,6,7
  • 1National Spine and Pain Centers, Atlantic Beach, Florida, FL, United States
  • 2Vagus Nerve Society, Atlantic Beach, Florida, FL, United States
  • 3Fraym, Arlington, VA, United States
  • 4United States Air Force, Santa Maria, California, CA, United States
  • 5The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, United States
  • 6Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris, Paris, France
  • 7Universite Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Laboratoire Infection et inflammation, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN), a debilitating complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), stems from bioenergetic failure and reduced vascular endothelial growth factor-A expression (VEGF-A), persisting despite optimal glycemic control. The meteoric rise of "diabesity"-the coexistence of obesity and T2DM-underscores the ongoing failure of symptom control strategies and the critical need to immediately address the root cause of metabolic dysfunction and neuropathic pain. An analysis was performed on patients who received combined minimally invasive auricular vagus cranial nerve (aVNS) and trigeminocervical complex (TCC) peripheral nerve stimulation in 83 Native American patients (91 initial, 8 lost to follow-up) with severe T2DM and DPN pain who were offered stimulation in the routine course of clinical care.Participants were implanted on branches of their vagal and trigeminal cranial nerves, along with their upper cervical peripheral nerves and stimulated for 19 days prior to explantation. Numerical Rating Pain Scores (NRS) and mean blood glucose levels were measured at 30-, 60-, and 90-days post-explant. Notable results include: NRS pain scores dropping 87% (7.92 to 1.04), mean blood glucose decreasing 37% (209 to 121 mg/dL), and HbA1c levels falling from 8.9% to 5.8% at 90 days. These improvements were all sustained for an average of 7.85 months of follow up. Additionally, a random subset decreased 80% of all pain and diabetes medications. This efficacy surpasses prior outcomes from cervical VNS alone, highlighting the synergy of targeting both the vagal and trigeminal cranial nerves along with the trigeminocervical complex. These findings position combined minimally invasive aVNS and TCC peripheral nerve stimulation as a promising immediate therapy for the current DPN and diabesity crisis, as well as a potential non-pharmacologic alternative for the management of type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: vagus, Trigeminocervical complex, Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS), closed-loop neuromodulation, trigeminal nerve stimulation, type 2 diabetes, Diabetic peripheral neuropathy, auricular stimulation

Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 08 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Staats, STAATS, Mikhaiel, Chen, DO, AZABOU and Rangon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Peter S Staats, National Spine and Pain Centers, Atlantic Beach, Florida, FL, United States

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.