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Article History

Received: 4 December 2017

Accepted: 16 April 2018

First Online: 8 May 2018

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For retrospective studies like the present one there is no ethical approval needed according to the Physicians Chamber (Ärtzekammer Nordrhein). All patients of the study were informed oraly about possible presentation of their data, however no identification of the patient is possible in the presented data. There are no individual images of the patients contained in this manuscript.

: All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. Maxine Dibué-Adjei is an employee of LivaNova PLC, maufacturer of vagus nerve stimulators.