Dedicated pediatric epilepsy experts
We know how difficult it can be for you and your child to deal with the day-to-day challenges of living with seizures or epilepsy. Please know that your care is in the hands of a team of experts that will support you every step of the way.
The Pediatric Epilepsy Program within Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Neuroscience Center is one of the leading epilepsy programs in the world. We have been recognized by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center. This is the highest level. It means we have the expertise and ability to provide the best medical and surgical evaluation and treatment for infants, children and adolescents with seizures and epilepsy.
We use state-of-the-art technology and expert input from each team member to create a treatment plan that's geared specifically to your child. Our goal is to reduce seizures and improve related neurobehavioral conditions.
The features below set our program apart:
- An extensive team that includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurses, psychologists, neuropsychologists, neuropathologists, neuroradiologists, dieticians, genetic counselors, and social workers. Each team member has expertise and deep experience in caring for children with epilepsy.
- A 24-bed inpatient Neuroscience Unit with a specially trained team. This state-of-the-art unit is equipped to meet the unique medical and surgical needs of infants, children and young adults with neurological and neurosurgical conditions. We include families in daily rounds to improve collaboration and provide the best care for patients.
- State-of-the-art inpatient and outpatient video-EEG monitoring unit. An experienced team of electroencephalography (EEG) technologists who are accredited by the American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic Technologists (ABRET) provides 24/7 coverage. This ensures advanced epilepsy monitoring including intracranial stereotactic EEG monitoring.
- Access to the latest minimally invasive surgery techniques and technologies. We develop a personalized epilepsy surgery plan for each child to optimize seizure control and minimize pain. This leads to a better recovery and overall outcome.
- Thorough evaluation of potential epilepsy surgery candidates.
- A support group that connects current and future epilepsy surgery families with those who have already gone through the experience.
- Largest ketogenic diet program in the world with known expertise and a network of support groups.
- Access to anti-seizure medication clinical trials and opportunities to participate in research and discovery.
- Support for the transition to adult care. Our outpatient program partners with Penn Medicine, which has successfully transitioned more than 200 patients with epilepsy since 2018.
- Close collaboration with providers outside of CHOP, both across the United States and internationally. This provides children with streamlined access to all of our resources for advanced diagnostic evaluation and treatment options.
Here, care is guided by the goals of each unique patient and family. We partner with each family to create a personalized, comprehensive treatment plan to achieve those goals. We work hard to help children and their families enjoy lives unaffected by seizures.
A full array of surgical solutions
We offer the most advanced surgical techniques to treat epilepsy in children. Our deep experience and technical expertise lead to the best possible outcomes. Our surgical outcomes are well above what is typically achieved at other centers, with 87% seizure freedom in focal resections and 92% seizure freedom in hemispherotomy in 2022.
Procedures we offer include:
- Minimally invasive, robot-assisted stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) to find the precise cause of seizure activity in the brain
- Laser ablation brain surgery, a minimally invasive approach to corpus callosotomy, hypothalamic hamartoma and other small seizure foci
- Functional hemispherotomy to disconnect parts of the brain
- Robotic-assisted responsive neurostimulation (RNS) for children with seizures coming from areas of the brain that control language, motor or sensory function
- Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for children with focal or multifocal epilepsy
- Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to send small electrical pulses to the brain
- Resection with a dedicated pediatric neuroanesthesia team
- Awake craniotomy to precisely identify essential brain regions that cannot be removed
Our Family Connection Through Trust, Information, Empathy and Support (Family TIES) program connects families that have already experienced pediatric epilepsy surgery with current and prospective patients and their families.
Nonsurgical treatment approaches
Our Ketogenic Diet Program uses food to treat seizures. The program is recognized for its cutting-edge approach to education, parent support and research.
We have the largest cohort in the world of children with epilepsy treated with diets. Since 1999, we have started more than 900 patients on dietary treatments. We currently have about 250 children actively treated.
We have a special space within our hospital where parents and caregivers of children in our program can learn to prepare the foods their child will need when following a dietary treatment for epilepsy. Called the Keto Kitchen, it opened in 2013 and is the first of its kind. It has all the necessary appliances, tools and ingredients to teach families hands-on how to prepare ketogenic recipes.
Offering genetic testing to all
Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological condition of childhood. It affects 500,000 children in the United States. More than 50% of children with epilepsy develop the condition due to their genetic makeup. Research advances have led to the identification of genes that cause seizures. This allows us to target therapies more effectively to personalize care.
Our Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative (ENGIN) includes genetic testing in the diagnosis and treatment of children with difficult-to-treat or unexplained epilepsies. It offers children with genetic epilepsy syndromes and other genetic neurodevelopmental disorders access to expert care.
ENGIN clinics combine the expertise of several different specialists. In addition to 13 neurologists specializing in neurogenetic diseases, the clinic teams include two physical therapists, two occupational therapists, six genetic counselors, three genetic counseling assistants and one social worker.
The ENGIN program has evaluated more than 3,000 patients with epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders from 29 states. It has made more than 281 unique genetic diagnoses. It is the largest pediatric epilepsy genetics program in the country.
Bringing the power of research to patients
Researchers on our Pediatric Epilepsy Program team are working to better understand why seizures develop and improve patient care.
Our team works with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and colleagues around the country and the world on a wide variety of research projects. This includes evaluating investigational seizure medications and clinical trials. We also collaborate with patient-family partners to improve health outcomes and the quality of care for children and youth with epilepsy.