Title

Comparative analysis on the effect of vagus nerve stimulation in reducing post-operative inflammation and enhancing recovery outcomes after surgery

Authors

Richa Kumari ^1,*, Gaurav Gupta², Sangeeta Gupta³ & Parth Jani⁴

Affiliation

¹Department of Physiology, Maharishi Vashishth Autonomous State Medical College, Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India; ²Department of General Surgery, AIIMS Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India; ³Department of Physiology, AIIMS Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India; ⁴Department of General Medicine, Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Richa Kumari - E-mail: drricha.official421@gmail.com

Gaurav Gupta - E-mail: drgaurav75@rediffmail.com

Sangeeta Gupta - E-mail: drsangeeta77.65@rediffmail.com

Parth Jani - E-mail: parthjani13@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received June 1, 2026; Revised June 30, 2026; Accepted June 30, 2026, Published June 30, 2026

Abstract

Excessive post-operative inflammation remains a major cause of complications, delayed recovery and prolonged hospitalization after major surgery. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the effect of perioperative transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on inflammatory biomarkers and recovery outcomes in 90 patients undergoing elective abdominal and cardiothoracic surgery. Patients receiving taVNS demonstrated significantly lower IL-6, TNF-α and CRP levels, together with higher IL-10 concentrations, than those receiving standard care. The taVNS group also showed earlier ambulation, lower pain scores, reduced analgesic requirements and shorter hospital stays. Thus, data shows the taVNS as a safe, non-invasive neuromodulatory strategy that effectively suppresses post-operative inflammation while accelerating clinical recovery.

Keywords

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), post-operative inflammation, cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, cytokines, surgical recovery, transcutaneous auricular VNS (taVNS), perioperative neuromodulation

Citation

Kumari et al. Bioinformation 22(6): 3647-3651 (2026)

Edited by

Ruby Singh 

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.