Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens and its usefulness in severe opioid addiction

Molecular Psychiatry volume 19, pages 145–146 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) has been recently reported to modulate substance-induced dysfunction and to promote an alteration of addictive behavior.1, 2, 3, 4 Here, we describe DBS-induced sustained heroin abstinence in two therapy-resistant opioid addicted patients treated during the piloting phase to our clinical trial NCT01245075. Inclusion was based on (1) longtime heroin addiction according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) (2) at least one detoxification (here: up to 20 detoxifications) without a prolonged phase of abstinence and (3) longtime opiate replacement therapy with a constant dose of levomethadone (Ethics approval has been obtained for both pilot testing and clinical trial.)

Both patients were yet consuming other psychotropic substances (Pat.1: alcohol and amphetamines, Pat.2: amphetamines and benzodiazepines). Stereotactic implantation of NAcc electrodes (Model 3389, Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA), as well as empirical testing of the optimal stimulation parameters (patient 1 bilateral: -0,-1,+case; 140 Hz; 120 μs; 5,0 V and patient 2 bilateral: -0,-1,-2,+ case; 130 Hz; 90 μs; 4,5 V) was carried out in analogy to previous reports.1, 2, 3 Patient 2, who has had epileptic seizures before, experienced an epileptic seizure 2 days after surgery; no further peri- or postoperative side effects have been observed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Kuhn J, Lenartz D, Huff W, Lee S, Koulousakis A, Klosterkoetter J et al J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2007; 78: 1152–1153.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhou H, Xu J, Jiang J . Biol Psychiatry 2011; 69: e41–e42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kuhn J, Grundler TO, Bauer R, Huff W, Fischer AG, Lenartz D et al Addict Biol 2011; 16: 620–623.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Luigjes J, van den Brink W, Feenstra M, van den Munckhof P, Schuurman PR, Schippers R et al Mol Psychiatry 2012; 17: 572–583.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sinha R, Catapano D, O‘Malley S . Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1999; 142: 343–351.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bewernick BH, Kayser S, Sturm V, Schlaepfer TE . Neuropsychopharmacology 2012; 37: 1975–1985.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Pascoli V, Turiault M, Luscher C . Nature 2012; 481: 71–75.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Denys D, Mantione M, Figee M, van den Munckhof P, Koerselman F, Westenberg H et al Arch Gen Psychiatry 2010; 67: 1061–1068.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Stephen JH, Halpern CH, Barrios CJ, Balmuri U, Pisapia JM, Wolf JA et al Addiction 2012; 107: 624–634.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pukrop R, Moller HJ, Steinmeyer EM . Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2000; 250: 120–132.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. J Kuhn and M Möller: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    J Kuhn, M Möller, C Bartsch & J Klosterkötter

  2. Division of addiction research, IGG – Group, Grevenbroich, Germany

    J F Treppmann

  3. Department of Functional Neurosurgery and Stereotaxy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    D Lenartz, M Maarouf & V Sturm

  4. Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Cologne, Germany

    T O J Gruendler

  5. Niederzier, Germany

    A Brosig

  6. Institute of Neuromodulation, Research Center Juelich, Juelich, Germany

    U B Barnikol

  7. Department of Neuromodulation, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    U B Barnikol

Authors
  1. J Kuhn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M Möller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J F Treppmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C Bartsch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. D Lenartz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. T O J Gruendler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. M Maarouf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. A Brosig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. U B Barnikol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. J Klosterkötter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. V Sturm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J Kuhn.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Möller M, Treppmann JF, Bartsch C, Gruendler TOJ, Brosig A, Barnikol UB and Klosterkötter J declare no conflict of interest. Kuhn J has occasionally received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Lilly, Lundbeck and Otsuka Pharma for lecturing at conferences and financial support to travel. Kuhn J received financial support for IIT-DBS studies (not the present investigation) from Medtronic GmbH (Meerbusch, Germany). Lenartz D reports having received financial assistance for travel to congresses from Medtronic AG. Maarouf M has occasionally received honoraria from Medtronic for lecturing at conferences and consulting. Strum V disclosed financial support for studies and travel to congresses, and lecture fees from Medtronic AG and Advanced Neuromodulation Systems INC. He also reported to be a co-holder of patents on desynchronized brain stimulation and shareholder of ANM-GmbH Jülich, a company that intends to develop new stimulators.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kuhn, J., Möller, M., Treppmann, J. et al. Deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens and its usefulness in severe opioid addiction. Mol Psychiatry 19, 145–146 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.196

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.196

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links