Treatment of patients with intractable obsessive-compulsive disorder with anterior capsular stimulation. Case report

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic, disabling anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent obsessive thoughts and uncontrolled repetitive acts. Although many patients respond to various pharmacological treatments, there is a cohort of patients with intractable or refractory disease. The authors present the case of a patient with intractable OCD who was treated with bilateral electrical stimulators, which were stereotactically placed in the anterior limbs of the internal capsules. Following psychiatric consultation and 10 years of empirical medication regimens for OCD, a woman was referred for neurosurgical evaluation. After informed consent had been obtained from the patient, the authors placed bilateral stimulator leads in the anterior limbs of the internal capsules. The stereotactic coordinates were based on data in pertinent current literature. The stimulation parameters, which are presented in this paper, were set at 2 weeks and reviewed at 6 weeks and 3 months postoperatively. No changes were required. Postoperative analysis included evaluation by the patient's referring psychiatrist, a second independent psychiatrist, and pre- and postoperative administration of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. A marked improvement was noted in thispatient's OCD symptomatology and general psychosocial function. Previous documentation of patient responses to psychosurgical procedures for intractable or refractory OCD has been met with little enthusiasm, presumably because of the invasiveness and irreversibility of the surgery. In this report the authors suggest that deep brain stimulation of appropriate targets may be an effective and safe treatment for certain patients with OCD and a potentially reversible treatment for those patients who do not obtain therapeutic benefit.