Deep brain stimulation and digital monitoring for patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: A case series

Abstract

Aim

The use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been recently extended for treating resistant psychiatric disorders, but the experience in patients with schizophrenia-related disorders and bipolar disorder (BD) is scarce.

Method

We conducted an observational, one-year longitudinal study to evaluate the effects of DBS in four treatment-resistant patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, and BD, included in a pilot, last-resource protocol. Patients were digitally monitored for objective assessment of behavioral changes.

Results

After one year of its initiation, DBS of the nucleus accumbens (in subjects N2, N3, and N4) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (in N1) produced a significant clinical improvement, associated with decreases in the Clinical Global Impression (from 5.25 ± 0.5 to 3.5 ± 1, p = 0.035) and in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HADRS scores, from 14.5 ± 6.56 to 1.5 ± 1.29, p = 0.020). We observed a notable, durable therapeutic response in two patients from this cohort (N1 and N3), a clinically relevant relief in a third (N2), and a lack of a significant response in the last one (N4). Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy sessions could be discontinued in the three patients that responded to DBS (N1–3). There were no side effects or relevant changes in cognitive functioning. There were relevant differences between physical activity and sleep time among the four participants.

Conclusions

These results suggest initial evidence that DBS may be an effective and safe alternative for treating complex and resistant forms of schizophrenia-related disorders and BD. Digital monitoring may help to capture objective measures of behavioral changes after the intervention.