Boy from UK given hope as he is fitted with world's first epilepsy device | ABS-CBN News

The family of a British 13-year-old boy with severe epilepsy has been given his "hope back, after a device was fitted into his skull to control seizures in a world-first trial, local media reported. Oran Knowlson, from Somerset, has had Lennox-Gastaut syndrome since the age of three and has suffered regular daily seizures. Oran's mother, Justine, told the BBC that her son had different seizures including where he fell, shook and lost consciousness and even stopped breathing, requiring emergency medication. The Picostim neurostimulator, which was fitted at part of a trial at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in October 2023, sends electrical signals into his brain and has reportedly since reduced Oran's daytime seizures by 80 per cent. The device's leads are connected to a neurostimulator, which was placed in a gap in Oran's skull and anchored in place, and emits a pulse of current to block or disrupt abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Previously, neurotransmitters were placed in the chest. "This study is hopefully going to allow us to identify really whether this is an efficacious treatment for epilepsy, and also is looking at a new type of device which is particularly useful in children because the implant is in the skull and not in the chest and we hope that will reduce the potential complications," consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Martin Tisdall told the BBC. Oran is part of the CADET project, which investigate the safety, feasibility and effectiveness of deep brain stimulation to treat children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Three more children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome will be fitted with the deep brain neurostimulator as part of the trial. Justine told the BBC that her then-12-year-old son, who also has autism and ADHD, had been "robbed of his childhood", but seven months since surgery, she said she had seen a "massive improvement". "He’s a happier boy… I think the Great Ormond Street team gave us hope back which is something we didn’t have." "Now the future looks brighter," she added. - Report from Reuters For more ABS-CBN News videos, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmgUHWUpi2ioSp4xAP1SmAaf For more latest news and analysis from ABS-CBN News videos, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmg4pcvfM9a96rbUcLD_0P_U For more News Digital News Raw Cuts, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmi83yKJH8Dv0p_3D4cyZKzV Subscribe to the ABS-CBN News channel! - http://bit.ly/TheABSCBNNews Watch the full episodes of TV Patrol on iWantTFC: http://bit.ly/TVPatrol-iWantTFC Visit our website at http://news.abs-cbn.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS Twitter: https://twitter.com/abscbnnews #Exclusive #LatestNews #ABSCBNNews