A brain surgery technique being developed could help more than 750,000 people in the UK with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Researchers in Korea found that the non-invasive procedure using high-powered ultrasound, during which patients remain awake, significantly reduced symptoms of this debilitating mental health condition.
People with OCD suffer from unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors, known as compulsions, which can be distressing and time-consuming.
Compulsions may include washing hands frequently, counting in patterns, silently repeating a word or phrase, or arranging objects in a particular way.
Around one in 50 people in the UK suffer from OCD at some point in their life and most cases can be treated with talk therapy and medication.
The NHS does not recommend brain surgery as a treatment for OCD, but the advice has not been updated since 2005.
The surgery, tested in a ten-year clinical study, uses beams of ultrasonic energy to destroy specific areas of brain tissue.
Patients remain awake during the procedure and are evaluated before and after each ultrasound beam, with side effects limited to headaches or dizziness during treatment, which then dissipate.
A non-invasive procedure using ultrasound could help people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
People with OCD suffer from unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors, known as compulsions, such as frequent hand washing.
The “no-scalpel” surgery, called MRI-guided focused ultrasound, was shown to reduce symptoms and have no adverse effects more than a decade after it was performed.
The study’s lead researcher, Dr Jin Woo Chang from Korea University Anam Hospital, said: “This technology will offer a new lease of life to those suffering from and fighting serious psychiatric problems.”
The ultrasound procedure is currently used by the NHS to treat essential tremor, a nervous system condition that is often a symptom of Parkinson’s, as well as fibroids in the womb.
According to the researchers, in the future it could also be used to remedy other common psychiatric diseases, such as treatment-resistant depression.