Deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder: current situation

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a chronic and severe psychiatric disorder with a high prevalence (2–3%) worldwide, of which 30% will be refractory to conventional treatment. Surgical treatment with deep brain stimulation, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009, seems to be effective in symptomatic control, with response rates exceeding 50% in severely affected patients. However, despite the efficacy indicated in the different studies, surgical treatments for psychiatric disorders are still controversial, and deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder is not yet considered a standard therapy. Since 2009, a wide variety of targets have been suggested for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder; however, to date, there is still no consensus on which target might be optimal for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. On one hand, authors are trying to find the best target based on each patient and the variability of their symptoms, in an attempt to personalize the treatment. In parallel, there has been a shift in the paradigm of functional neurosurgery from the belief in stimulation focusing on a single target to the modulation of brain circuits or connectomes. With this in mind, it may be possible that many of the targets used in obsessive-compulsive disorder could modulate the same brain network and thus produce an improvement in patients' symptomatology. This study aims to review the evolution of this treatment up to the present time; as well as to make a comparison between these two lines of thought, thus exposing the current state of deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder.