PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jens Kuhn
AU  - Doris Lenartz
AU  - Wolfgang Huff
AU  - SunHee Lee
AU  - Athanasios Koulousakis
AU  - Joachim Klosterkoetter
AU  - Volker Sturm
TI  - Remission of alcohol dependency following deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens: valuable therapeutic implications?
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.2006.113092
DP  - 2007 Oct 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 1152--1153
VI  - 78
IP  - 10
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/78/10/1152.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/78/10/1152.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2007 Oct 01; 78
AB  - Chronic consumption of alcohol represents one of the greatest health and socioeconomic problems worldwide. We report on a 54-year-old patient with a severe anxiety disorder and secondary depressive disorder in whom bilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus accumbens was carried out. Despite the absence of desired improvement in his primary disorder, we observed a remarkable although not primarily intended alleviation of the patient’s comorbid alcohol dependency. Our case report demonstrates the extremely effective treatment of alcohol dependency by means of DBS of the nucleus accumbens and may reveal new prospects in overcoming therapy resistance in dependencies in general.