You may have heard of epilepsy as it is a common neurological disorder. It is essentially when surges of electrical activity are sent to the brain at once, that can temporarily affect the functioning of the brain. Some effects include loss of consciousness or uncontrollable shaking which can ultimately be an interference to a person’s daily life. Therefore, it is crucial to provide the right treatments in order to lower the number of seizures a patient encounters or to prevent the seizures from occurring entirely. Current treatments include the use of anti-epileptic drugs (e.g. sodium valproate or carbamazepine). If the drugs turn out to be ineffective, another current treatment is open brain surgery.

The recent recognition of a new fibre optic laser therapy called Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) is rolling out at King’s College Hospital in London and The Walton Centre in Liverpool as specialist hubs. This may provide more opportunities to further improve the services provided to patients suffering from epilepsy (NHS England, 2024).

During the procedure, a small opening in the skull is made in order to navigate a 1.5mm probe with a laser tip to the specific lesion in the brain that is causing the epilepsy (UCLA Health, n.d.). The precise nature of the surgery means that it requires the guidance of an MRI to ensure that major blood vessels and any other vital structures are avoided in the process, thus making the procedure less invasive compared to open brain surgery (Ryan, 2024). Once the clinical team have guided the laser tip to the specific tissue, it is then destroyed through heating; they also ensure that the temperature of the healthy tissue surrounding the area is continuously monitored to prevent them from overheating. (NHS England, 2024).

The procedure being minimally invasive can be considered as an advantage as it means that there are less complications and side effects involved, therefore the patient would need to stay in hospital for a short period of time (usually one night) after the procedure in order to recover. This would be more convenient for the patient and would put less strain on then as they already face difficulties while living with epilepsy. In addition to this, shorter stays can also be considered as an advantage for the NHS as it could mean that more beds are available thus helping deal with the backlog of patients. James Palmer, NHS England’s Medical Director for Specialised Services and a Consultant Neurosurgeon, also outlines how ‘latest and most effective treatment” such as LITT can “help significantly improve their quality of life”, thus showing commitment to the NHS Long Term Plan (NHS England, 2024).

The roll out of LITT is an example of the development of the NHS and how it is taking progressive steps in order to fulfil the requirements of the established plan, therefore proving that quality of service to patients with conditions such as epilepsy is likely to improve in the future due to new medical innovations.

Written by Varsana

Moderated by Adelene

References

NHS England, 2024. News : NHS patients to access world-leading laser beam surgery to prevent epileptic seizures. [Online] Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2024/05/nhs-patients-to-access-world-leading-laser-beam-surgery-to-prevent-epileptic-seizures/ [Accessed 10 May 2024].

Ryan, M., 2024. Epilepsy Society : “Game-changing” new laser beam therapy will help to reduce seizures in some patients with epilepsy. [Online]

Available at: https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/news/new-laser-beam-therapy#:~:text=The%20NHS%20will%20roll%20out,the%20need%20for%20invasive%20surgery. [Accessed 10 May 2024].

UCLA Health, n.d. Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) at UCLA. [Online]

Available at: https://www.uclahealth.org/medical-services/pediatric-neurosurgery/conditions-treatment/pediatric-epilepsy-surgery/epilepsy-treatment/laser-interstitial-thermal-therapy [Accessed 20 May 2024]."