Deep brain stimulation procedure helps 37-year-old patient with OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder had taken control of most of a California man’s life, but stimulation by electrodes planted deep in his brain has produced some amazing results and sparked hope where there was little before.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on June 24, 2014

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, have irresistible urges to check things repeatedly, perform certain tasks or routines over and over, or repetitious, unrelenting thought patterns. The condition is categorized as an anxiety disorder, and the thoughts and rituals associated with OCD interrupt normal daily life and may cause substantial distress in sufferers.

One common manifestation of OCD is constant, obsessive hand-washing resulting from an obsessive fear of or concern for germs and dirt. Other ways in which OCD may manifest is in neatness, needs to touch something repeatedly, or cycling through certain thoughts, especially those that are forbidden or distasteful. The causes of OCD are unclear, but researchers have found key parts of the brain involved.

For several years, neuroscientists have investigated whether a procedure called deep brain stimulation, or DBS, offers any lasting benefit for OCD patients that do not respond to other, less invasive treatments. In one study published in 2006, researchers followed ten patients with highly resistant OCD for three years following deep brain stimulation and found promising long-term effects. More recent discoveries are helping to focus in on specific targets for DBS.

For 37-year-old Brett Larsen, the advances paved the way for a new glimpse at the hope of a normal life, free of OCD. One of Larsen’s OCD rituals involves opening and closing the refrigerator door several times before reaching in for a bottle of soda. Then, once he has it, a similar ritual takes place with the cap before he takes a sip.

“Just think about any movement that you have during the course of a day — closing a door or flushing the toilet — over and over and over,” said Michele Larsen, Brett’s mother.”I cannot tell you the number of things we’ve had to replace for being broken because they’ve been used so many times.”

Larsen’s OCD began at age 10 when his father died.

“I started worrying a lot about my family and loved ones dying or something bad happening to them,” he said in an interview with CNN. “I just got the thought in my head that if I switch the light off a certain amount of times, maybe I could control it somehow.”

Neither Larsen nor his doctors found a way to control it so in a last-ditch effort, Larsen sought DBS. Doctors inserted electrodes deep into his brain and implanted a battery-powered electrical source under his skin. A noticeable improvement in Larsen’s mood developed during the procedure and lasted during his recovery.

When Larsen had the device activated in January, the improvements were noticeable but transient as doctors optimized the stimulation signal characteristics. By May, however, Larsen was putting on his shoes without completing a ritual of spinning them many times first.

Not all of Larsen’s OCD manifestations have disappeared, but he has hope for the future.

“I feel like I’m getting better every day,” said Larsen, adding that things like going back to school or working now feel within his grasp. “I feel like I’m more able to achieve the things I want to do since I had the surgery.”