Girl 'youngest' to have conscious brain surgery for condition

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool said a teenager has become the world’s youngest known patient to undergo conscious brain surgery for an arteriovenous malformation. Tilly Phillips, now 16, was 15 when she had the 12-hour conscious craniotomy, which surgeons used to treat a tangle of blood vessels that can cause seizures and can be fatal. She was awakened for about 30 minutes so the team could map brain regions involved in speech, movement, and vision while removing the malformation. The hospital said follow-up scans confirmed successful treatment and that her seizures dropped significantly. Phillips reported memory problems after the operation, and she still sometimes struggles to find words, using strategies learned through speech and language therapy. She experienced about three seizures a day before surgery, spent about a week in hospital, completed her GCSE exams at home, and later secured a summer job.