In February, 69-year-old Susan Perry became the first person in Texas to receive the SetPoint System, a jelly-bean‑sized implant placed on the vagus nerve to reduce inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis. The device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July 2025.

Perry, who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis since her early 30s, said the implant cut her pain and let her sleep through the night. "I keep waiting to have some bad days, but I’m not," she said. Her care team reported that blood tests showed a marked drop in inflammation within weeks of the procedure.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Daniel Peterson of Ascension Medical Group Seton Neurosurgery performed the procedure at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin. He said the implant stimulates branches of the vagus nerve that influence inflammatory pathways. "It doesn’t suppress the immune system, it modulates it back toward normal," Peterson said. He was also involved in the device’s clinical trials.

The surgery is minimally invasive. Surgeons make a small incision on the left side of the neck and place the device around the vagus nerve. Perry said her operation lasted about 15 minutes and she was home the same day. Patients wirelessly charge the device about once a week for roughly five minutes. Perry’s implant is programmed to activate automatically each morning while she sleeps.

Dell Seton was the first hospital in Texas to implant the device and one of the earliest U.S. sites in the trials, enrolling 34 patients. A randomized clinical trial published earlier this year reported sustained improvements in disease activity and relatively few adverse events at one year; some patients experienced temporary vocal‑cord weakness that later resolved, researchers said.

Perry said Medicare covered her surgery after the program approved coverage in November. Dr. Peterson noted that broader uptake will depend on insurance coverage and whether rheumatologists refer eligible patients for the surgical option. "The patients are the ones that are ultimately going to drive the adoption," he said.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation, pain and swelling and affects roughly 1.3 million Americans, disproportionately women.

Photo credit: sanantonioreport.org

Tags: SetPoint System, vagus nerve stimulation, rheumatoid arthritis, neuromodulation implant

Topics: Neuromodulation, Vagus nerve & taVNS, Neuroprosthetics & neural implants