The world’s youngest patient undergoes deep brain stimulation surgery
Client EPNS : Association EAN
In 2019, two year old Viktoria Kaftanikaite became the world's youngest patient to undergo deep brain
stimulation surgery. She suffers from a rare genetic condition called dystonia which left her in pain,
unable to eat and with breathing difficulties. The four-hour procedure involved drilling two holes, about
the size of a 5p coin, into the top of her skull, and then implanting two electrodes into the area deep
inside the brain which controls movement.
The operation used technology to push the boundaries of paediatric neurology which was not an easy task,
according to Senior Neurosurgeon Richard Selway: “Simple things that we don’t think about in adults like
‘does the adult-sized equipment work with someone so small?’, the thickness of the skull, the thickness of
the scalp, the size of the implant, which is quite large.”