NHS to roll out 'game-changing' laser beam surgery to prevent epileptic seizures trends now

Epileptic patients will soon be treated with a new 'game-changing' laser beam therapy on the NHS.

Known as Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT), the treatment uses fibre-optic lasers to target affected brain tissue to help reduce seizures.

Surgeons first drill a tiny hole in the skull to allow a 1.5mm-wide probe with a laser at the tip to be inserted into brain.

This tiny laser is used to destroy epilepsy-causing brain tissue from the inside by heating it.

Medics use an MRI scanner to navigate through the brain and avoid blood vessels and other critical structures.

The treatment involves drilling a tiny hole to allow a 1.5mm-wide probe with a fibre optic laser at the tip to be inserted into the skull

The scanner also helps to monitor the temperature of the surrounding tissue to make sure it doesn't overheat.

Patients can recover from the laser treatment within 24 to 48 hours and with minimal risk of infection.

Previous surgery offering the same kind of treatment required a far more extensive operation that could take months to recover from.

Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and leaves patients at risk of seizures.

Around one in 100 people in the UK have epilepsy, Epilepsy Action statistics reveal.

And in the US, 1.2 per cent of the population have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anyone can have a seizure, which does not automatically mean they have epilepsy.

Usually more than one episode is required before a diagnosis.

Seizures occur when there is a sudden burst of electrical activity in the brain, which causes a disruption to the way it works.

Some seizures cause people to remain alert and aware of their surroundings, while others make people lose consciousness.

Some also make patients experience unusual sensations, feelings or movement, or go stiff and fall to the floor where they jerk.

Epilepsy can be brought on at any age by a stroke, brain infection, head injury or problems at birth that lead to lack of oxygen.

But in more than half of cases, a cause is never found.

Anti-epileptic drugs do not cure the condition but help to stop or reduce seizures.

If these do not work, brain surgery can be effective.

In fact, the NHS said LITT patients can usually return to work and other activities within a week.

Up to 50 patients in England each year whose epilepsy cannot be controlled by standard