SWNS_WHITAKER_BRAIN_OP_13

Billy Whittaker, 15, after his brain surgery at the Childrens hospital in Bristol.See SWNS story SWBRAIN; A 15-year-old boy became one of the first children in the UK to have his epilepsy cured – after a robot created a ‘sat-nav’ map of his brain. Billy Whitaker, 15, had suffered daily seizures for seven years and conventional surgery to remove part of his brain had failed. But neurosurgeons used a brand new £350,000 robot – almost exactly like the ones used in car manufacturing factories – to drill electrodes deep into his brain. For the first time they were able to pinpoint the epicentre of his debilitating attacks down to minute accuracy.