Epilepsy is incurable. However, with various medical advancements about 70 percent of people with epilepsy can successfully manage epilepsy seizures with medication and certain types of surgery. Many continue to suffer in silence. But this might change soon.
A 13-year-old boy has become the first patient in the world to trial a new device fitted in his skull to control seizures. According to a report by BBC, the UK boy was suffering from Lennox-Gastaut syndrome which is a treatment-resistant form of epilepsy that he developed at the age of three.
The BBC report reveals that the device, which sends electrical signals deep into his brain has reduced Oran Knowlson’s daytime seizures by 80 percent. Due to his condition, oran has suffered several daily seizures ranging from two dozen to hundreds.
In October last year, the surgery was carried out on the boy as part of a trial at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. The body also suffers from autism and ADHD, but his family says that his epilepsy is by far the biggest hurdle.
Reportedly, Oran is part of the CADET project – a series of trials assessing the safety and effectiveness of deep brain stimulation for severe epilepsy.
The partnership involves Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London, King’s College Hospital and the University of Oxford, BBC reported. The Picostim neurotransmitter is made by UK company Amber Therapeutics.
According to the researchers, the device, which emits a constant pulse of current, aims to block or disrupt abnormal signals. During the surgery, the team led by consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Martin Tisdall, inserted two electrodes deep into Oran’s brain until they reached the thalamus.
During an epilepsy seizure, an abnormal burst of electrical activity is triggered in the brain. Although deep brain stimulation has been tried before for childhood epilepsy, until now neurostimulators were placed in the chest, with wires running up to the brain.
According to BBC, the boy can recharge the device every day through wireless headphones, while doing activities like watching TV. As part of the trial, three more children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome will be fitted with the deep brain neurostimulator.
The team is eventually planning to make the neurostimulator respond in real-time to changes in his brain activity. This will be done as an attempt to block seizures as they are about to happen.
Interestingly, the device has also been used to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease.
