Doctors have pioneered a new technique for treating severe brain injury which could save nearly 500 people a year in Britain from death and disability.

By inserting a series of tiny coils in the brain, experts have dramatically reduced the number of patients left disabled by blood vessels which suddenly burst, known as aneurysms.

Every year 6,000 patients in the UK are struck down by such a condition, and one-third die within 24 hours. A further 25 per cent of patients die within a month unless they are operated on.

The traditional treatment is for neurosurgeons to cut through the skull and attach a metal clip to prevent further bleeding into the brain.

But under the new technique, a catheter is inserted through an artery in the leg to reach the brain, and tiny platinum coils are inserted to fill up the swelling - a less risky procedure.

'For many patients this could mean the difference between a return to normal life and substantial disability,' said Richard Kerr, consultant neurosurgeon at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford.

Research under the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial published in The Lancet last week showed that by using the coiling, 23.7 per cent of those treated died or were left disabled compared to 30.6 per cent who had the usual method of surgery, a relative risk reduction of just under a quarter.

The technique could help prevent death and disability in about 480 patients a year.