An eight-year-old girl with crippling brain damage has regained the ability to move on her own, thanks to a first-of-its-kind implant surgery involving a robot.
Before the lengthy operation, Karleigh Fry, from Oklahoma, was paralyzed and couldn’t eat, walk or even sit up on her own. She can now raise her arms above her head and there are signs that she is starting to move other parts of her body.
A robotic device placed an electrical implant in his brain to “reawaken” areas involved in movement.
While the robot, operated by surgeons, has been used in the past to implant brain stimulators, this is the first time the procedure has been performed on a child.
Dr. Amber Stocco, a pediatric neurologist involved in the procedure, described the surgery as a “milestone.”
Eight-year-old Karleigh Fry couldn’t move her arms until the procedure to implant a ‘brain pacemaker’
Doctors hail their achievement as a turning point in the use of robotics in brain surgeries in children.
“Our young patient is already showing promising results and we hope this procedure will pave the way for more pediatric cases around the world.”
Meanwhile, Karleigh’s mother, Trisha Fry, said the family saw improvements the moment doctors turned on the electric device, adding: “I think she will surely have a great future.”
Karleigh suffers from an inherited condition called primary rapid-onset dystonia, a neurological disease that causes painful muscle contractions and abnormal movements. In some cases, muscle pain is so severe that it can prevent patients from moving.
Doctors believe the condition causes abnormal electrical patterns in the brain, especially in areas related to involuntary movement.
Mrs Fry’s form of dystonia is the genetic type that is least common in children. The most common cause in children is a brain injury, such as a stroke or cerebral palsy.
Stimulating electrodes inserted into his brain helped interfere with the abnormal activity, restoring normal movement patterns.
The device, called a deep brain stimulation implant, is similar to a pacemaker, but for the brain.
It involves the placement of a pulse generator that sends electrical signals to the parts of the brain that control body movement. It can inhibit overactive neural connections or activate underactive ones, depending on the condition.
The tool is also used to treat Parkinson’s disease, tremors, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression.
Dr. Amber Stocco, a pediatric neurologist and medical director of Child and Adolescent Neurology at Bethany Children’s Health Center, a partner of OU Health physicians, said her team is now “at the forefront of what’s happening in the world of deep brain stimulation, as well as robotics.’
Robotic surgery is nothing new. The Da Vinci robot, often used for cardiac and thoracic surgery, has been in use since 2000 and has been used on babies.
Dr. Andrew Jea, the pediatric neurosurgeon at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital who operated on her, said, “This marked the world debut of using a robot from our operating rooms to perform deep brain stimulation on a child, setting a precedent not only in Oklahoma but also throughout the United States and the rest of the world.’