The first patient in the world to test a novel seizure-controlling device implanted in their skull is a child suffering from severe epilepsy.
Oran Knowlson’s drowsy seizures have decreased by 80% thanks to the neurostimulator, which delivers electrical signals deep into his brain.
He was content and had a “much better quality of life,” according to his mother, Justine, who spoke to the BBC.
When Oran, who is currently 13 years old, was 12, the procedure was performed in October at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London as a part of a trial.
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Oran, a resident of Somerset, was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome at the age of three, a form of epilepsy that is resistant to therapy.
Since then, he has experienced anywhere from two dozen to hundreds of seizures per day.
Oran’s mother described how his epilepsy controlled his life when we first spoke to her last autumn, before surgery: “It has robbed him of all of his childhood.”
She informed us that Oran experienced a variety of seizures, including ones in which he lost consciousness, collapsed to the ground, and trembled uncontrollably.
She claimed that occasionally he would stop breathing and needed to be revived with emergency medication.
Oran suffers from autism and ADHD, but his epilepsy is the largest obstacle, according to Justine: “I had a fairly bright three-year-old, and within a few months of his seizures commencing he deteriorated rapidly, and lost a lot of skills.”
