A 15-year-old boy, who had suffered daily seizures for seven years, has become the first child in the U.K. to have his epilepsy cured by a "sat-nav" robot. Now, the teen is hoping that the surgery will make him seizure-free forever.
In 2014, Billy Whitaker underwent a brain surgery and had a section of his right temporal lobe removed. After the operation, he thought he was already cured because the seizures stopped for around a year. However, it suddenly returned and became harder to control.
When Bristol Royal Hospital for Children had its brand-new £350,000 Neuromates Robot, the institute chose Billy to be its first child patient. Hence, the doctors explained to the teen that the robot will drill electrodes deep to his brain.
Using the latest technology, the surgeons then started the operation right away -- removing the tiny seizure-causing tissue on the teen's brain. Since the operation two weeks ago, Billy has been seizure-free. Now, doctors are hoping that it will not recur.
"There were little part of his brain we suspected were the candidates for causing these residual seizures." Michael Carter, consultant neurosurgeon of the hospital said about the operation. "We used the robot to implant a series of electrodes using ultra-high, sub-millimetre precision, into these small areas of the brain, in order to see if his seizures were coming from them."
Mr. Carter said that Billy is still recovering but hasn't had any seizures since the operation. He also said that they are all hoping that the boy will be permanently free from seizures.
Billy, a keen sportsman from Trequite, Cornwall said, "It is exciting to be the first patient to have been treated at the hospital with this technique, especially as I and my family have travelled all the way from Cornwall." The teen is now looking forward to going back to sports again and getting back to school, according to the report of Telegraph.
