Functional and Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory

Functional and Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Projects

Master
Media Component
Photo of Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation
Heading

Developing Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Content

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral capsule/ventral striatum (VC/VS) improves symptoms in ~66% of patients with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Conventional stimulation paradigms for OCD treatment are open-loop, continuous DBS (cDBS). Stimulation parameter adjustments require the patient to visit their psychiatrist in the clinic. Programming visits are burdensome and time intensive for both patients and clinicians. Our study aims (Grant: UH3NS100549) to develop closed-loop, adaptive DBS (aDBS), in which stimulation would be automatically titrated in response to specific symptom/side effect states. An aDBS system would decrease programming burden and increase efficacy of DBS for OCD. 

Neural biomarkers of OCD symptom severity and side effects of VC/VS must be identified in OCD to develop aDBS algorithms that improve on the traditional cDBS paradigm. The development of bidirectional DBS devices has equipped us to stream neural data chronically while delivering therapeutic stimulation. We collect these data in the clinic and at home in naturalistic settings. Integrating in-clinic and at-home data will inform our understanding of patient-specific pathology and allow us to investigate how OCD affects brain networks across patients.