Boy is first to have epilepsy implant

Device attached to his brain reduces dozens of daily seizures by 80%

- Josh Salisbury

A BOY with severe epilepsy has become the first in the world to trial a new brain implant to control his seizures.

Oran Knowlson, who was 12 at the time, had the device implanted at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in October. The rechargeable implant is mounted onto the skull and attached to electrodes deep in the brain to reduce seizure activity.

Oran, now 13, from Somerset, has Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a treatment-resistant form of epilepsy which he developed at the age of three. Since then he has suffered daily seizures ranging from two dozen to hundreds.

However, eight months on from the operation, his daytime seizures have been reduced by 80 per cent