Epilepsy Center
Diagnosis & Treatment for Epilepsy
Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Epilepsy Program provides expert care to children and young adults with epilepsy including comprehensive evaluation, treatment, and counseling. The program offers patients the most cutting-edge treatments and procedures in a unique, child-friendly atmosphere. Children’s Hospital offers a full range of outpatient and inpatient management of epilepsy.
Our specialty services include:
- Neurodiagnostic (Video EEG) monitoring
- Medical, neuropsychological and psychosocial treatment
- Expertise in implementing a ketogenic diet to manage seizures
- Surgical placement and medical management of vagus nerve stimulators
- Intracranial electrodes and resective epilepsy surgery including single surgery resection, two-stage intracranial monitoring and resection, corpus callosotomy, and hemispherectomy
We’re here for your family
The Neurology Department understands the challenges that seizures pose to children and their families, and the team is committed to helping patients live fulfilling, seizure-free lives. The multidisciplinary center is the only one in the region able to provide all current treatment options for children with epilepsy. All patients undergo a comprehensive evaluation that includes digital monitoring and neuroimaging studies. Specialists in neurology, neurosurgery, neurophysiology, neuroradiology and neuropsychology work together to determine the best treatment plan for each child. The Children’s Hospital Epilepsy Center is a member of the National Association of Epilepsy Centers and is affiliated with the LSU Health New Orleans Epilepsy Center of Excellence.
Our multidisciplinary epilepsy team includes:
- Neurologists
- Neurosurgeons
- Neurodiagnostics/EEG
- Neuroradiologists
- Neuropsychologists
- Neuropathologists
- Neurology nurses
- Nutritionists
- Social Workers
- Child Life Specialists
- Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Speech Therapists
- Pediatric Anesthesiologists
- Pediatric Pharmacists
Evaluation
Evaluations are done both on an outpatient and inpatient basis depending on the complexity of each patient’s unique situation. A thorough neurologic examination and review of your child’s history and current seizure medications is performed. Further testing is performed as needed and may include EEG, MRI, functional MRI, SPECT or PET scans. By correlating this information, we can best determine what type of seizures your child is having (there are many), and how best to treat them.
Treatment
Children’s Hospital’s Epilepsy Center offers the most advanced treatment options for our young patients. Our team focuses on:
- Using the most effective anti-seizure medications to control seizures
- Enrolling interested families in clinical studies of the newest experimental anti-seizure medications
Implementing the Ketogenic Diet, a high fat, low carbohydrate diet that enables the body to produce its own natural anticonvulsants, ketones
ROSA®, robotized surgical assistant
The ROSA® surgical robot is an assistant that uses computer-guided, minimally-invasive technology to treat children with severe epilepsy conditions. This new generation of robotic technology helps surgeons identify the source of seizures more precisely, safely and efficiently resulting in reduced surgery and recovery times, and ultimately, improved outcomes and patient experience.
Children’s Hospital is the only facility in the state of Louisiana with this technology. Children from across the state and surrounding regions will now have access to this life-changing service.
When medicine alone isn’t enough
In some cases, brain surgery may offer the best seizure control and quality of life for children with difficult-to-control epilepsy. Selection of cases for surgery depends on careful localization of the site of seizure onset, which often requires recording of seizures directly from the brain, and careful localization of critical brain functions such as memory, language, and motor abilities. Implantation of a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS), a pacemaker-like device that delivers signals to the vagus nerve in the neck, may be used to reduce seizures.
Since 1955, Children’s Hospital has served the medical and surgical needs of the children of our region. Our program has a renowned reputation throughout Louisiana and the Gulf South. Children’s Hospital is an approved provider for most insurance plans. We are committed to helping families from all economic backgrounds.
