Study Shows Potential for Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Focused Ultrasound

In the proof-of-concept study, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients that did not respond to other medical therapies for OCD (such as pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy) were treated with bilateral thermal capsulotomy using Magnetic Resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MrgFUS) to the anterior internal capsule of the brain.

The patients underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing at baseline, one week, one month, and six months after treatment using the Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A), and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D).

The results of the study in which four patients with disabling medically-refractory OCD were treated with focused ultrasound were published in the Journal of Molecular Psychiatry. The study was conducted by Jin Woo Chang, MD, PhD, at the Yonsei University Medical Center, Seoul, (Seoul, Korea).

The results showed that during the 6-month follow-up period Y-BOCS scores improved by 33%, anxiety decrease by an average of 69.4%, and all patients showed an average decrease of depression by 61.1%. The researchers did not find any physical or neuro-psychological side effects from the treatments.

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Yonsei University Medical Center