A British boy got the world’s first epilepsy treatment device implanted in his skull
A 13-year-old boy from England is the first patient to test a new neurostimulator device implanted in the skull to control his severe epileptic seizures.
A schoolboy in England has made medical history as he became the first student in the world with severe epilepsy to test a new device implanted in his skull to control seizures.
The neurostimulator, which sends electrical signals deep into the brain, has reduced Oran Knowlson’s daytime seizures by 80%.
Oran has Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a treatment-resistant form of epilepsy that she developed when she was three years old. Since then, she has had anywhere from a few dozen to hundreds of seizures every day.
His mother, Justine, said Oran had a series of seizures in which he would fall to the ground, shake violently and lose consciousness. At times, he would stop breathing and need emergency medication to revive him.
The surgery, which lasted about eight hours, took place in October 2023. It was part of a trial conducted at Great Ormond Street Hospital in collaboration with University College London, King’s College Hospital and Oxford University.
Oran, who is now 13, was 12 at the time of the surgery.
Epileptic seizures are caused by abnormal bursts of electrical activity in the brain. This device, which emits continuous pulses of current, aims to block or interrupt these abnormal signals.
According to University College London, the rechargeable device is worn on the scalp and connected to electrodes deep in the brain to reduce seizure activity.
This is the first UK clinical trial to measure this type of treatment for children with epilepsy. The CADET pilot (Children’s Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation Trial for Epilepsy), which is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, will now recruit three additional patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, before 22 patients take part in the full trial, which is being funded by GOSH Charity and LifeArc.
Martin Tisdall, Honorary Associate Professor at UCL and Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon at GOSH, said: “For Oran and his family, epilepsy completely changed their lives and so it is absolutely amazing to see him riding a horse and regaining his independence. We are so pleased to have been part of his journey.”
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a treatment that involves surgically inserting a small device that stimulates specific parts of the brain. DBS has been tried before for childhood epilepsy, but until now the neurostimulator was placed in the chest and wires ran to the brain.
(With inputs from PTI)
