Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T21:00:18.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neurosurgical interventions for psychiatric illness – an underutilised option in treatment?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2023

Nigel I. Kennedy Open the ORCID record for Nigel I. Kennedy [Opens in a new window]
Nigel I. Kennedy*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
*
Correspondence Nigel I. Kennedy. Email: nigel.kennedy@mountsinai.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Neurosurgery for mental disorder is performed in the UK for treatment-refractory obsessive–compulsive disorder and depression. In this commentary, the procedures used are considered alongside other surgical interventions for psychiatric conditions. Given the evidence for efficacy, this commentary agrees with Whitehead & Barrera's assessment that such procedures be considered more widely in treatment-refractory illness and concurs that the advent of minimally invasive radiosurgery is an exciting prospect for patients who have not responded to other treatments.

Keywords

Neurosurgeryobsessive–compulsive disorderdeep brain stimulationtreatment-refractory illnesscapsulotomy
Type
Commentary
Information
BJPsych Advances , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , November 2023 , pp. 404 - 406
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Commentary on… A narrative review of ablative neurosurgery in refractory mental disorders. See this issue.

References

Braslow, JT (1999) History and evidence-based medicine: lessons from the history of somatic treatments from the 1900s to the 1950s. Mental Health Services Research, 1: 231–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, LT, Mikell, C, Youngerman, B, et al (2016) Dorsal anterior cingulotomy and anterior capsulotomy for severe, refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review of observational studies. Journal of Neurosurgery, 124: 77–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byard, RW (2017) Frontal lobotomy. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, 13: 259–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopell, BH, Rezai, AR (2003) Psychiatric neurosurgery: a historical perspective. Neurosurgery Clinics of North America, 14: 181–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumar, KK, Appelboom, G, Lamsam, L, et al (2019) Comparative effectiveness of neuroablation and deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: a meta-analytic study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 90: 469–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGilloway, A (2021) Are we withholding the most effective treatment for severe depression from our patients? BJPsych Advances, 27: 303–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ooms, P, Blankers, M, Figee, M, et al (2017) Cost-effectiveness of deep drain stimulation versus treatment as usual for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Brain Stimulation, 10: 836–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, T, Barrera, A (2023) A narrative review of ablative neurosurgery in refractory mental disorders. BJPsych Advances, 29: this issue.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.