title: Deep brain stimulation for the treatment of severe, medically refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery for The Permanente Medical Group and a Neurosurgeon at the Redwood City Medical Center in CA. mark.f.sedrak@kp.org.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sedrak
authors.affiliation: Psychiatrist at the Redwood City Medical Center in CA. william.t.wong@kp.org.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Chief of Psychiatry and a Psychiatrist at the Redwood City Medical Center in CA. paul.wilson@kp.org.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Physician Assistant in Functional Neurosurgery at Redwood City Medical Center in CA. diana.m.bruce@kp.org.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.affiliation: Physician Assistant in Functional Neurosurgery at the Redwood City Medical Center in CA. Iivan.p.bernstein@kp.org.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.affiliation: Director of Movement Disorders for The Permanente Medical Group and a Neurologist at the Sacramento Medical Center in CA. suketu.m.khandhar@kp.org.
authors.forename: Suketu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khandhar
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgeon at the Sacramento Medical Center in CA. conrad.pappas@kp.org.
authors.forename: Conrad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.affiliation: Former Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery for The Permanente Medical Group in Redwood City, CA. garyheit@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heit
authors.affiliation: Bioengineer in Functional Neurosurgery at Redwood City Medical Center in CA. eric.sabelman@kp.org.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sabelman
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*