¹Deakin University, IMPACT, School of Medicine, Geelong, Australia

Background: Treatment resistance to conventional therapeutic strategies is an important clinical concern in OCD and there is a need to evaluate novel options. Cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit abnormalities in OCD may be examined using non-invasive neuromodulation and these could be used as novel treatment strategies, especially for resistant OCD.

Aims & Objectives: The presentation aims to examine the investigative potential and clinical utility of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in OCD where a CSTC circuitry-based knowledge is used in the application and research.

Method: We will discuss the relevant investigative studies and systematic clinical studies of field of TMS and tDCS in OCD based on CSTC explorations among patients and healthy volunteers, including those from the author’s own work.

Results: Neuromodulation studies reveal adaptive alterations in cognitive functions, resting state EEG and functional MRI activity, indicating that CSTC functional changes are possible with these interventions. The studies also indicate clinical improvement.

Discussion & Conclusions: Non-invasive neuromodulation methods hold promise as effective and safe tools to explore CSTC circuits. They could be beneficial in a subset of patients with OCD with poor response to conventional options.