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Disclosed herein are methods for treating a medical condition in a patient using an implantable medical device by applying an electrical signal characterized by having a number of pulses per microburst, an interpulse interval, a microburst duration, and an interburst period to a portion of a cranial

Disclosed herein are methods for treating a medical condition in a patient using an implantable medical device by applying an electrical signal characterized by having a number of pulses per microburst, an interpulse interval, a microburst duration, and an interburst period to a portion of a cranial nerve of said patient, wherein at least one of the number of pulses per microburst, the interpulse interval, the microburst duration, or the interburst period is selected to enhance cranial nerve evoked potentials.

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1. A method performed by an implantable medical device to treat a medical condition in a patient having a brain, a vagus nerve, a trigeminal nerve, and a glossopharyngeal nerve, the method comprising: applying a first electrical signal to a portion of at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal

1. A method performed by an implantable medical device to treat a medical condition in a patient having a brain, a vagus nerve, a trigeminal nerve, and a glossopharyngeal nerve, the method comprising: applying a first electrical signal to a portion of at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve of the patient, the first electrical signal comprising a series of microbursts, a number of pulses per microburst, an interpulse interval, an interburst period between successive microbursts in the series of microbursts, and a microburst duration, the interburst period is at least 100 milliseconds, the number of pulses per microburst is from 2 pulses to about 15 pulses, and the microburst duration is less than about 1 second, at least one of the interpulse interval, the microburst duration, and the interburst period is selectable to enhance nerve evoked potentials in the brain of the patient;discontinuing applying the first electrical signal; andapplying a second electrical burst signal to the portion of at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve;wherein the second electrical burst signal comprises more than 50 pulses per burst or a burst duration of at least 7 seconds. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the microburst duration is from about 10 milliseconds to about 80 milliseconds. 3. The method of claim 1, performed by the implantable medical device comprising an electrode configured to be coupled to the at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve of the patient, and a programmable electrical signal generator coupled to the electrode, wherein applying the first electrical signal to the portion of the at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve comprises generating the first electrical signal with the electrical signal generator and applying the first electrical signal to the electrode. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the first electrical signal to the portion of the at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve comprises applying the first electrical signal to the vagus nerve of the patient. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the microburst duration is less than about 80 milliseconds. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the number of pulses per microburst is from 2 pulses to about 6 pulses or the microburst duration is from about 10 milliseconds to about 20 milliseconds. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of pulses per microburst is 2 pulses to 3 pulses. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the microburst duration is from about 10 milliseconds to about 80 milliseconds. 9. A method of treating a medical condition of a patient having a brain, a vagus nerve, a trigeminal nerve, and a glossopharyngeal nerve, the method comprising: utilizing a medical device including at least one electrode configured to be coupled to at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve of the patient; the medical device including a programmable electrical signal generator coupled to the at least one electrode, the method including:generating a first electrical signal with the programmable electrical signal generator, the first electrical signal comprising a series of microbursts, a number of pulses per microburst, an interpulse interval, an interburst period between successive microbursts in the series of microbursts, and a microburst duration, wherein the interburst period is at least 100 milliseconds, the number of pulses per microburst is from 2 pulses to about 25 pulses, the interpulse interval is about 10 milliseconds or less, and the microburst duration is less than about 100 milliseconds, and wherein at least one of the number of pulses per microburst, the interpulse interval, the microburst duration, and the interburst period is selectable to enhance nerve evoked potentials in the brain of the patient; andapplying the first electrical signal to the at least one electrode to treat the medical condition;wherein applying the first electrical signal to the at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve is performed during a first period, wherein the method further comprises applying a second electrical burst signal to the at least one of the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal nerve during a second period, the second electrical burst signal being different from the first electrical signal, wherein the second electrical burst signal has more than about 50 pulses per burst or a burst duration of at least about 7 seconds. 10. A method of treating a medical condition in a patient using an implantable medical device, the method comprising: applying a first electrical burst signal to a vagus nerve of the patient during a first time period, wherein the first electrical burst signal has more than about 50 pulses per burst or a burst duration of at least about 7 seconds, andapplying a second electrical signal to the vagus nerve of the patient during a second time period, wherein the second electrical signal is configured to enhance cranial nerve evoked potentials in a brain of the patient, the second electrical signal has a plurality of microbursts, an interburst period between adjacent microbursts of at least 100 milliseconds, 2 to about 25 pulses per microburst, an interpulse interval from about 1 millisecond to about 50 milliseconds, and a microburst duration from about 2 milliseconds to about 1 second.