Objective:To examine whether transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (ta-VNS) is an effective approach for patients with refractory epilepsy. Patients and Methods:This study was conducted on 191 epilepsy patients who were randomly assigned to the ta-VNS group (n=124), and the transcutaneous non-auricular vagus nerve stimulation (tn-VNS) control group (n=67) from December 2010 to June 2012. The seizure frequency were assessed in week 8, 16 and 24 of the treatment according to the percentage of seizure frequency reduction. Results:For 124 patients in the ta-VNS group, after 8 week’s treatment, 10 were seizure free and 31 had a 50-99% reduction in seizure frequency; after 16 week’s treatment, 14 were seizure free, 40 had a 50-99% reduction in seizure frequency; after 24 week’s treatment, 17 were seizure free, 46 had a 50-99% reduction in seizure frequency. For 67 patients in the tn-VNS control group, 3 were seizure free, and 11 had a 50% reduction in seizure frequency after the first 8 weeks’ treatment. After 16-week treatment of ta-VNS, of the 46 patients, 5 were seizure free, 17 had a 50-99% reduction in seizure frequency. The differences in seizure frequency reduction among groups were significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion:Our result indicated that ta-VNS can significant suppress epileptic seizures. As a safe, effective, simple, economic therapeutic method with mild side-effect, it may have great potential in treatment of epilepsy.