Ethological Neurobehavioral Investigations in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

DBS for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) achieves clinical benefit in 66% of treatment-resistant patients. However, there is still a lack of a fundamental understanding of the neurophysiological basis of the relationship between OCD behavior and neural activity and the mechanism by which DBS achieves therapeutic benefit in OCD. Recent advances in surgical neuromodulation have enabled continuous monitoring of neural activity during everyday activities. I will present our work on identifying neurophysiological biomarkers of acute exacerbations in OCD symptoms, acute changes in mood and energy upon DBS activation, and long-term clinical response after DBS. These biomarkers could be used to guide therapeutic decision-making or as a control signal for adaptive DBS.

 

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