NEWS
NHS PATIENTS TO ACCESS WORLD-LEADING LASER BEAM SURGERY TO PREVENT EPILEPTIC SEIZURES
The NHS is to roll out a ‘ game-changing ’ new laser beam therapy next month to help reduce seizures for patients with epilepsy . The cutting-edge fibre optic laser therapy , known as Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy ( LITT ), targets the part of the brain causing seizures without the need for invasive surgery .
The treatment will now be rolled out for eligible patients across England from June , being offered at King ’ s College Hospital in London and The Walton Centre in Liverpool as specialist national hubs . 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 . This reaches and destroys the epilepsy-causing brain tissue from the inside by heating it .
Using an MRI scanner , the clinical team navigate through the brain avoiding blood vessels and other critical structures .
They also monitor the temperature of the surrounding areas to make sure healthy brain tissue does not overheat .
The wound heals quickly , meaning patients can go home the next day ( within 24 – 48 hours ) with minimal risk of infection or other side effects and can usually return to work and other activities within a week .
It is estimated that up to 50 patients in England each year whose epilepsy cannot be controlled by standard antiseizure drugs will be eligible for LITT .
James Palmer , NHS England ’ s Medical Director for Specialised Services and a Consultant Neurosurgeon , said : “ This laser beam therapy is game-changing for patients and will offer new hope on the NHS to those for whom standard drugs are not effective in controlling their seizures ."
WELL LAUNCHES ITS SECOND-GENERATION AI-POWERED PHYSICIAN CO-PILOT WITH CHRONIC DISEASE DETECTION POWERED BY HEALWELL AI validated insights that identify care gaps and equip clinicians with actionable information at the point of care .
Dr Michael Frankel , Chief Medical Officer of WELL , said : " Adding chronic disease detection is a game-changer for our AI powered physician co-pilot tools . I have personally used this tool in my practice and found it to be of tremendous help and support . The tool compliantly scans my data and provides me with an overview of a number of key diseases as well as insights on which patients could be at higher risk or exposure to such diseases ."
WELL Health Technologies , a digital health company focused on tech-enabling healthcare providers , and its investee company , HEALWELL AI , are pleased to announce the launch of the second generation WELL AI Decision Support , ( or ‘ WAIDS ’). This enhanced version which features advanced chronic disease screening arrives just six months after the initial launch , which was primarily focused on rare disease detection .
The upgraded WAIDS now includes screening capabilities for numerous chronic diseases such as chronic kidney disease , hypertension and diabetes , enabling risk stratification of patients into high , medium or low risk categories . This expansion broadens WAIDS ' s utility in detecting more than one hundred rare and chronic diseases , providing clinically
www . intelligenthealth . tech 11