AHN team performs region’s first deep brain stimulation therapy to treat opioid addiction

PITTSBURGH – A multidisciplinary team of physicians at Allegheny Health Network (AHN) is among the first in the nation to safely investigate the use of deep brain stimulation therapy (DBS) to treat a patient suffering from opioid addiction.  

Led by principal investigator and AHN neurosurgeon Nestor D. Tomycz, MD, the AHN team announced this week that they have successfully implanted an deep brain stimulation (DBS) device in the brain of a 28-year-old New York man with treatment-resistant opioid addiction.

The procedure took place in December at AHN’s Allegheny General Hospital, and the patient’s ongoing therapy is part of an FDA-approved clinical study.

DBS for opioid-use disorder involves implanting bilateral electrode leads into an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens – the brain’s addiction and reward center. The electrodes are powered by a pacemaker-like device implanted near the patient's collarbone. By targeting this area of the brain with continuous electrical pulses, the goal is to reduce the severe cravings that lead to frequent relapse and overdose in patients addicted to opioids.

“Drug addiction, particularly to opioids, is a devastating brain disease that causes more deaths in America than car accidents, and there is an urgent need for new treatments,” said Dr. Tomycz. "AHN is among the first health care organizations in the nation to study DBS for opioid addiction, and we are excited to be a part of this groundbreaking effort.”

Opioid misuse remains one of the nation’s leading public health problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2023, drug overdoses killed more than 110,000 people in the U.S., and most of those were related to opioids, especially powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

DBS has been around since the 1980s and has become a well-established treatment for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremors. Under the l