EAST PROVIDENCE – Bradley Hospital is enrolling teens with obsessive-compulsive disorder for a brain stimulation study.
The study will examine whether the use of a noninvasive type of brain stimulation called transcranial magnetic stimulation can improve brain activity in teens with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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The Pediatric Anxiety Research Center at Bradley Hospital is conducting the study and is enrolling children between the ages of 13 and 18 diagnosed with OCD.
“Previous research has shown that a part of the brain called the pre-supplementary motor area is overactive in people with OCD. The pre-SMA is very important for being able to stop an action that isn’t helpful for a given situation,” said Kristen Benito, the research and quality improvement lead for the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center at Bradley Hospital and principal investigator for the study. “By definition, OCD compulsions are a type of unhelpful action. Our goal is to learn whether we can enhance kids’ ability to stop those actions by reducing brain activity in the pre-SMA. If we’re successful, this could eventually lead to a new treatment option for kids with OCD.”
Only 2% to 3% of youths are diagnosed with OCD, a disorder in which they experience obsessions that make them feel driven to complete compulsions, which often end up disrupting their lives. Currently, there is no cure for OCD, which is often treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy and medications.
The study will involve an assessment of symptoms, electroencephalogram, computer tasks and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for adults with OCD but research in this area has not yet been extended to children or adolescents.
“Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, research involves holding a hand-sized magnet over someone’s scalp, which can either temporarily inhibit or activate the brain cells underneath,” Benito said. “We’re using TMS to learn if temporarily reducing the overactivity in the pre-SMA makes it easier to stop an unhelpful action.
“In general, research for children lags behind that for adults,” Benito continued. “We do know that TMS has been safe and well-tolerated by most children in research studies – but no one has tested TMS specifically for [youths] with OCD.”
Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.
