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A new development has come to light with Oran Knowlson, a UK teenager, being the first person to trial a device fitted inside his skull to manage his epilepsy. The procedure is called Deep Brain Stimulation and here, a small device stimulates certain parts of the brain as a way to control seizures.

This device in particular, is a first as it is placed directly on the skull, as opposed to older methods of DBS where devices were wires that are placed along the chest and connected to the child鈥檚 brain.

Instead, the skull device is a user-friendly and rechargeable one. It can be charged simply by using wearable headphones that you鈥檇 use to listen to music- which means there isn鈥檛 a need for another procedure every few years.
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The Procedure: A Success For Oran

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In Oran鈥檚 case, he had his implantation surgery in October last year, and has since been activated. His mother commented on the progress, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檝e been switched on since December and we鈥檝e seen a big improvement, seizures have reduced and are less severe. That鈥檚 been great but the quality of life improvement has been invaluable for Oran. He鈥檚 a lot more chatty, he鈥檚 more engaged.

鈥淗e鈥檚 turned 13 and I definitely now have a teenager 鈥� he鈥檚 happy to tell me no. But that adds to his quality of life, when he can express himself better. The team really do have your back. We never felt alone, from last August.

鈥淲e were made to feel part of the team and so was Oran. The future looks hopeful which I wouldn鈥檛 have dreamed of saying six months ago. For Oran, having hope brings excitement. It makes the future brighter and more attainable even. I鈥檓 really pleased that Oran gets to experience that.鈥�

NHS鈥檚 Great Ormond Street Hospital confirmed in their announcement that his seizures have gone down by about 80%, which is a great improvement.
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What Are The Researchers Saying?

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Researchers are showing a lot of optimism about this success story. Professor Tim Denison, the lead engineer of the project, from University of Oxford, spoke on their intentions for this: 鈥淥ur mission is to design pioneering research systems for exploring the treatment of intractable health conditions such as paediatric epilepsy.

鈥淥ran is the first child in the world to receive this investigational device and we are extremely pleased that it has had such a positive benefit for him and his family.鈥�

Martin Tisdall, Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon at GOSH and Honorary Associate Professor at UCL, also shared excitement, saying, 鈥淓very single day we see the life-threatening and life-limiting impacts of uncontrollable epilepsy.

鈥淔or Oran and his family, epilepsy completely changed their lives and so to see him riding a horse and getting his independence back is absolutely astounding. We couldn鈥檛 be happier to be part of their journey.鈥�
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Other Tech Used To Help Epileptic Patients

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There are other developments helping epileptic patients as well, that we have seen in recent reports. Andrea Biondi, a PhD student at King鈥檚 College London, is leading a major project in this area called EEG@HOME. Funded by Epilepsy Research UK, Biondi鈥檚 team is focused on whether EEG caps and smartwatches can be used effectively for seizure forecasting in home settings.

Biondi explains, 鈥淭he unpredictability of epileptic seizures is a major challenge. Our project, EEG@HOME, aims to allow people with epilepsy to use new technologies independently, comfortably, and safely in their homes.鈥�

So with this tech, apps and wearables are used to track things like heart rate and quality of sleep. This is so there鈥檚 real-time recorded data of the patient鈥檚 health. It鈥檚 great to see technology that we use everyday, such as headphones, apps and wearable devices are advancing as time goes, as a way to provide health-related solutions for those who previously did not have much innovative technologies before.