Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) has been named the first Center of Excellence for Auricular Neuromodulation (IB-Stim) worldwide by NeurAxis, a medical technology company specializing in innovative neuromodulation therapies.
IB-Stim is a non-surgical medical device used to treat chronic abdominal pain and nausea associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other disorders of gut-brain interactions. It has also shown effectiveness in conditions such as cyclic vomiting syndrome. It can improve daily functioning, sleep, anxiety, and overall quality of life in these children. The device attaches to the ear and uses gentle electrical pulses to stimulate and improve the functioning of the vagus nerve, the most important nerve of the autonomic nervous system, which is essential in regulating the body’s automatic functions. It is safe and well-tolerated by children.
CHOC was one of the first pediatric hospitals to use the IB-Stim device on patients in the U.S. It has been used to successfully ease symptoms in several children. Recently, CHOC treated its 700th patient using IB-Stim, including children from all over California, other parts of the U.S., and other countries.
“A groundbreaking treatment, IB-Stim therapy has shown significant promise in managing pediatric abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal disorders. As a leader in this field, CHOC is at the forefront of research and clinical application, continually striving to improve outcomes for our patients,” says Ashish Chogle, MD, MPH, a pediatric gastroenterologist, medical director, division of pediatric gastroenterology and director, Functional Abdominal Pain Program, CHOC.
Dr. Chogle has led CHOC on a journey to become a Center of Excellence through collaborations and continuous evolution. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, CHOC continued in-person IB-Stim placements to ensure patients received the necessary care.
Dr. Chogle recently published a multicenter study that examined the efficacy of IB-Stim in a large number of children with pain-related disorders of gut-brain interaction. Additionally, he has demonstrated IB-Stim’s effectiveness in enhancing the quality of life for these children in other research studies. CHOC’s Functional Abdominal Pain Program is currently conducting several studies with IB-Stim, including its effectiveness in treating conditions such as post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and post-COVID syndrome.
