Deep Brain Stimulation

In 2008, the US-FDA approved Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for compassionate use of treatment-refractory Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  Collaborators from the UNC Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Psychiatry conduct DBS for OCD as an IRB-approved research study.  In order to determine eligibility, patients undergo detailed Psychiatric, Neurological and Neurosurgical assessments. Obsessions and compulsions must be long-standing, severe, and unresponsive to pharmacologic treatment and exposure-response therapy as documented in medical records.  Appropriate patients undergo brain electrode mapping and implantation, followed by neurostimulator placement on the chest wall.  Neurostimulator programming is conducted in clinic to maximize the therapeutic effects and minimize the side effects of DBS.