Deep Brain Stimulation May Be Effective Treatment for Tourette Syndrome

“Our findings hold promise for helping people with severe Tourette syndrome, who are in need of new treatment options to improve their quality of life,” said study author Andrea Cavanna, MD, of the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom.

It is estimated that two million Americans are affected by Tourette syndrome, which is a neurological disorder characterized by uncontrolled movements and vocalizations, or tics, lasting more than a year. The first symptoms of Tourette syndrome are almost always noticed in childhood and some common tics include eye blinking, facial grimacing, shoulder shrugging and head or shoulder jerking. People who have Tourette syndrome often also have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, anxiety or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study involved 15 people with severe Tourette syndrome and OCD who were an average age of 30 and continued to have severe symptoms after trying medications and psychobehavioral treatments. They also had high levels of depression and anxiety at the start of the study. The participants were followed and tested for two years after deep brain stimulation, which involves a surgically implanted brain pacemaker that sends electrical impulses to certain parts of the brain.

The study found that the participants experienced 52 percent fewer tics on average and a 26 to 33 percent improvement in the symptoms of OCD, depression and anxiety two years after deep brain stimulation began. Deep brain stimulation had no significant effect on thinking abilities in the study.

“Despite having only 15 patients in this study, it is the largest to date on the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation as a treatment for Tourette syndrome,” said Cavanna. “The results showed that all 15 people who were assessed after two years’ treatment experienced improvements in disabling tics and neurological problems, which is encouraging. Unfortunately three patients from the original group of 18 were no longer part of the study at follow up and this limits the ability to generalize our findings. More research needs to be done to confirm that deep brain stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for Tourette syndrome.”

Deep brain stimulation is FDA approved for the treatment of essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease and dystonia.

The study was supported by the Italian Tourette Syndrome Association, the National Hospital Research and Development Fund and Tourettes Action-UK.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 21,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care through education and research. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as epilepsy, dystonia, migraine, Huntington’s disease, and dementia.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or http://www.thebrainmatters.org.

Media Contact

Rachel L. Seroka American Academy of Neurology

More Information:

http://www.aan.com

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors