Brain Recordings in Patients Undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

July 18, 2025 updated by: Sameer Sheth, Baylor College of Medicine

Obsessive-compulsive disorder effects approximately 2-3% of the population. The only established first-line treatments for OCD are cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with exposure/response prevention and serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications (SRIs). Approximately 30-40% of patients fail to respond to either modality and few patients experience complete symptom resolution. Up to 25% of patients have difficulty tolerating CBT, and the risk of relapse after therapies remains significant. Symptoms of OCD include unwanted, distressing thoughts and rituals such as excessive washing of hands or other body parts, rechecking things such as locks or switches because of obsessional doubt, and avoidance of anxiety-provoking situations. In some cases, compulsions can consume several hours per day and in the most extreme cases can involve most of the patient's waking hours (e.g. washing hands hundreds of times per day, 18-hour showers). Medical complications may result from repeated washing or other repetitive behaviors. Significant social and occupational impairment can result from this disorder and some patients are housebound or even bed-ridden.

Effective evidence-based treatments include behavior therapy and certain medications. Despite these therapies, a significant number of patients are treatment resistant and suffer persistent, debilitating symptoms. In severe cases, neurosurgical intervention is sometimes performed to alleviate symptoms. A common surgical option is deep brain stimulation (DBS), a procedure that involves placing two electrodes in a specific region in the brain and connecting them to a pacemaker-like device implanted under the skin in the upper chest. The clinician adjusts the stimulation parameters on the device to find the settings that best relieve symptoms.

One of the challenges of treating a psychiatric disorder is the absence of reliable and valid biomarkers for diagnosing and objectively monitoring treatment outcomes. There is also problem of heterogeneity, which introduces additional barriers to predicting who will respond best to a particular treatment. A better understanding of the dysfunction in key brain circuits underlying OCD symptomatology will allow us to improve outcomes with DBS. The pathophysiology of OCD is associated with dysfunction in prefrontal cortico-basal ganglia circuits. The electrodes of the DBS system are placed at a critical hub within this circuit. This target is called the ventral capsule/ventral striatum (VC/VS). DBS targeting the VC/VS is approved for the treatment of severe OCD under an FDA Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE).

In this project, the investigators will recruit patients treated with DBS for OCD under the standard clinical (HDE) pathway. The FDA/HDE-approved device for these procedures is the Medtronic Percept DBS system. The Percept implanted pulse generator (IPG; pacemaker-like device mentioned above that delivers stimulation) has the ability to not only stimulate, but also record electrical activity measured from the brain electrodes, store the recordings in memory, and wirelessly transmit them to the clinician. The investigators will ask consenting patients to perform and transmit these recordings to the investigators for analysis. The investigators hope that these recordings will help them understand the relationship between electrical network activity in the brain and patient symptoms. A closer understanding of this relationship may eventually enable the investigators to make better informed programming adjustments and therefore achieve better symptom control.

The main objective is to obtain recordings from the VC/VS, a key network hub in OCD, in patients already implanted with a DBS system for severe OCD. The Investigators will use these recordings to better understand the relationship between brain activity and OCD symptoms, with the hope that this understanding will lead to more effective utilization of DBS therapy to treat severe OCD.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
8

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Baylor College of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Subjects whom are implanted with the Medtronic Percept DBS system for OCD will be enrolled.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult 18 years old or older
  • Implanted with the Medtronic Percept DBS system to treat OCD

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to operate the patient programmer to perform recordings
  • Unable to provide informed consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale) score
Time Frame: 12 months

0: <25% reduction in Y-BOCS scores (non-response), 1: 25-35% Y-BOCS score reduction (partial response), 2: ≥35% Y-BOCS score reduction (response), 3: ≥35% Y-BOCS score reduction and final Y-BOCS ≤ 12 (remitter).

Lower scores equal better outcome. Minimum value: 0 Maximum value: 50
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Baylor College of Medicine

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 20, 2021

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
June 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
June 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
June 14, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 14, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
June 23, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 18, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • H-48392

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings