Gamma Ventral Capsulotomy

Gamma Knife ventral capsulotomy is an effective radiosurgical procedure for many treatment-refractory OCD patients. A minority of patients developed cysts at long-term follow-up, 1 of whom had permanent neurological sequelae 1).

Results support the current theory of frontal-striatal-thalamic-cortical (FSTC) circuitry involvement in OCD pathogenesis. Gamma ventral capsulotomy is associated with neurobiological changes in the inferior orbitofrontal cortex in refractory OCD patients 2).

1)
Rasmussen SA, Norén G, Greenberg BD, Marsland R, McLaughlin NC, Malloy PJ, Salloway SP, Strong DR, Eisen JL, Jenike MA, Rauch SL, Baer L, Lindquist C. Gamma Ventral Capsulotomy in Intractable Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2017 Dec 15. pii: S0006-3223(17)32284-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.11.034. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29361268.
2)
Cecconi JP, Lopes AC, Duran FL, Santos LC, Hoexter MQ, Gentil AF, Canteras MM, Castro CC, Norén G, Greenberg BD, Rauch SL, Busatto GF, Miguel EC. Gamma ventral capsulotomy for treatment of resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: a structural MRI pilot prospective study. Neurosci Lett. 2008 Dec 12;447(2-3):138-42. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2008.09.061. Epub 2008 Sep 27. PubMed PMID: 18835422.