Background: Since its first application in 1999, the potential benefit of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in reducing symptoms of otherwise treatment-refractory Tourette syndrome (TS) has been documented in several publications. However, uncertainty regarding the ideal neural targets remains, and the eventuality of so far undocumented but possible negative long-term effects on personality fuels the debate about the ethical implications of DBS.
Methods: In this prospective open-label trial, eight patients (three female, five male) 19-56 years old with severe and medically intractable TS were treated with high-frequency DBS of the ventral anterior and ventrolateral motor part of the thalamus. To assess the course of TS, its clinical comorbidities, personality parameters, and self-perceived quality of life, patients underwent repeated psychiatric assessments at baseline and 6 and 12 months after DBS onset.
Results: Analysis indicated a strongly significant and beneficial effect of DBS on TS symptoms, trait anxiety, quality of life, and global functioning with an apparently low side-effect profile. In addition, presurgical compulsivity, anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and inhibition appeared to be significant predictors of surgery outcome.
Conclusions: Trading off motor effects and desirable side effects against surgery-related risks and negative implications, stimulation of the ventral anterior and ventrolateral motor part of the thalamus seems to be a valuable option when considering DBS for TS.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.05.014 | DOI Listing |
Biol Psychiatry
December 2024
Amsterdam UMC, Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, Compulsivity, Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Objective: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with altered brain function related to processing of negative emotions. To investigate neural correlates of negative valence in OCD, we pooled fMRI data of 633 individuals with OCD and 453 healthy controls from 16 studies using different negatively-valenced tasks across the ENIGMA-OCD Working-Group.
Methods: Participant data were processed uniformly using HALFpipe, to extract voxelwise participant-level statistical images of one common first-level contrast: negative vs.
Cereb Cortex
December 2024
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
Understanding the goal of an observed action requires computing representations that are invariant to specific instantiations of the action. For example, we can accurately infer the goal of an action even when the agent's desired outcome is not achieved. Observing actions consistently recruits a set of frontoparietal and posterior temporal regions, often labeled the "action observation network.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Orofac Orthop
December 2024
Department of Orthodontics, Saarland University, 66424, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
Background And Aim: Treatment effects of a combined rapid maxillary expansion (RME) and Delaire facemask (DFM) therapy have so far only been scientifically investigated through cephalometric analyses. The combination of cephalometric, dental cast and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan analysis was not yet used for investigating morphologic changes of the tooth-bearing palate. The aim of the present study was to determine whether patient age at treatment begin has an influence upon palatal length changes after RME/DFM therapy, and to what extent transverse palatal sutures contribute to these.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosurg Pediatr
December 2024
1Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston.
Objective: Tumors in the ventral craniocervical junction (CCJ) pose unique challenges, particularly in children. The potential constraints with endoscopic approaches to tumors extending inferiorly and laterally and the risk of CSF leakage can be exacerbated in the pediatric population. Here, the authors present their experience with the extreme lateral transodontoid (ELTO) approach in children with large ventral CCJ tumors as an alternative or complement to anterior approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Psychopharmacol
December 2024
Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education, College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Current models of psychedelic action in the brain propose changes along the dorsal-ventral and anterior-posterior axes but neglect to address the lateral axis. This article proposes a novel model of psychedelic action called HEALS (Hemispheric Annealing and Lateralization Under Psychedelics) which involves the reversal of the typical hierarchical relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain. In typical modes of consciousness, the hemispheres act in parallel process with the left predominating.
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