Bio-Electric Therapy Targets Deadly COVID-19 Cytokine Storm
Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Trial Seeks to Mitigate Dangerous Immune Response.
Overland Park, Kansas, May 20, 2020 – Dr. Patrick Nemechek, founder of Nemechek Technologies, registered a study with ClinicalTrials.Gov to determine the therapeutic effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) in patients with moderate, severe, or critical pneumonia associated with COVID-19.
Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are dying of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to a surge of pro-inflammatory cytokines. ARDS is the reason such a high percentage of patients require mechanical ventilation. Watch a brief video.
Known as a cytokine storm, the surge of inflammatory molecules is a life-threatening reaction similar to septic shock. A proposed therapy to mitigate the cytokine storm is electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. Known as the Inflammatory Reflex, stimulating the vagus nerve with a mild electrical current improves the body’s natural ability to regulate damaging inflammation.
Nemechek Technologies proposes to use its taVNS device to suppress pro-inflammatory cytokines and improve COVID-19 patient outcomes. Bioelectrical stimulation of the vagus nerve may fill the urgent need for improving a patient’s immune regulation. Dr. Nemechek will donate devices for use in this study to evaluate how effective taVNS is in decreasing ICU admissions, patient intubations, and mortality.
Dr. Nemechek stated, “Our taVNS device is safe, portable, inexpensive, and doesn’t interfere with other therapies. Importantly, a single device can be shared among many patients with minimum sterilization. We hope to demonstrate tVNS is a potentially life-saving COVID-19 therapy that can be available to resource-limited countries around the world.”