Deep brain stimulation for the treatment of severe, medically refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder

Deep brain stimulation is a rapidly expanding therapy initially designed for the treatment of movement disorders and pain syndromes. The therapy includes implantation of electrodes in specific targets of the brain, delivering programmable small and safe electric impulses, like a pacemaker, that modulates both local and broad neurologic networks. The effects are thought to primarily involve a focus in the brain, probably inhibitory, which then restores a network of neural circuitry. Psychiatric diseases can be refractory and severe, leading to high medical costs, significant morbidity, and even death. Whereas surgery for psychiatric disease used to include destructive procedures, deep brain stimulation allows safe, reversible, and adjustable treatment that can be tailored for each patient. Deep brain stimulation offers new hope for these unfortunate patients, and the preliminary results are promising.