Effectiveness and safety of neuroablation for severe and treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Several neuroablative procedures are available for severe and treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but limited knowledge about their relative clinical advantages and disadvantages poses obstacles for treatment decision-making. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and the Cochrane Library for reports up to February 2019. We reviewed the literature on the effectiveness (assessed using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale [Y-BOCS]) and safety of various neuroablative interventions for severe and treatment-resistant OCD. Results We included 23 studies involving 487 patients in the systematic review; 21 studies with 459 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, neuroablation achieved a response rate (proportion of patients with >= 35% reduction in Y-BOCS) of 55%. Most of the adverse events (88.4%) were mild and transient. The top 3 adverse events were headache (14.9%), cognitive deficits (9.1%) and behaviour problems (8.1%). Severe or permanent adverse events included personality changes (2.3%) and brain edema or brain cyst (1.5%). The response rates associated with capsulotomy, limbic leucotomy and cingulotomy were 59% (95% confidence interval [CI] 54-65), 47% (95% CI 23-72) and 36% (95% CI 23-50), respectively. Interventions with different coverages of the dorsal part of the internal capsule were associated with different adverse-event profiles but were unlikely to modify clinical effectiveness. Limitations The level of evidence of most included studies was relatively low. Conclusion Ablative surgeries are safe and effective for a large proportion of patients with severe and treatment-resistant OCD. Among the available procedures, capsulotomy seemed to be the most effective. Further research is needed to improve clinical effectiveness and minimize risks.