Deep brain stimulation has been successful in treating Parkinson disease and essential tremor and is now reducing PTSD symptoms in the first patient enrolled in an early-phase safety trial.
Dr. Langevin is a neurosurgeon, Dr. Chen is a neurologist, Dr. Mandelkern is a radiologist, and Dr. Krahl is a neurophysiologist in the research and development service; Dr. Koek and Dr. Sultzer are mental/behavioral health physicians, Dr. Kulick is a psychologist, and Dr. Schwartz is a mental/behavioral health physician in the psychiatry and mental health service; all at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in California. Dr. Langevin, Dr. Koek, Dr. Chen, Dr. Sultzer, Dr. Mandelkern, and Dr. Krahl are professors at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles.
Author disclosures The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest with regard to this article.
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Conclusion
Deep brain stimulation has been successful in treating Parkinson disease and essential tremor. Physiologically, DBS seems to inhibit specific brain regions’ dysfunctional activity stemming from a disease process. Deep brain stimulation-induced inhibition of a dysfunctional node improves clinical outcomes in movement disorders.
Given the reversibility and positive safety profile of DBS, new applications are being studied. The authors propose that DBS may benefit patients with severe treatment-refractory PTSD. Their first patient’s core PTSD symptoms have improved significantly, as expected, but as in other psychiatric DBS cases, the seriousness and chronicity of his illness may be complicating the course of recovery. The authors plan to recruit 6 patients for this early-phase safety trial.
