Patients With Treatment-Resistant OCD Found to Improve After Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) may lead to improvements in patients with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), reports astudy published today in AJP in Advance.In the open study of 70 OCD patients who received DBS of a region called the ventral anterior limb of the internal capsule (vALIC), Damiaan Denys, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Amsterdam and colleagues found that during the first year following the procedure, patients on average experienced significant improvements in symptoms of OCD, anxiety, and depression. The findings support the results of a DBS trial involving 16 OCD patients reported in 2010, the authors noted.Although pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) have been shown to benefit many patients with OCD, 10% of patients experience treatment-resistant OCD, Damiaan Denys, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Amsterdam and colleagues wrote. DBS uses electrical pulses from implanted electrodes to regulate activity in specific regions of the brain. To be included in the trial, patients had to have a primary diagnosis of OCD and a five-year history of OCD. The patients also had a history of “no or insufficient response” to multiple treatments, including two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) at maximum dosages, at least one attempt at augmenting SSRIs with an atypical antipsychotic, and CBT, the authors wrote. DBS electrodes were implanted bilaterally into the vALIC of all patients included in the trial, and t...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ajp in advance anxiety Damiann Denys deep brain stimulation depression HAM-A HAM-D obsessive-compulsive disorder Y-BOCS Source Type: research