Epilepsy Program
Our epilepsy team at Children’s Hospital Boston is sensitive to the many physical and emotional challenges that seizures can bring to children, adolescents and their families. We are devoted to helping your child live a seizure-free, fulfilling life.
Seizures and epilepsy occur when part of the brain over-fires, disrupting its normal electrical signals. This can be a special concern in a child, because her brain is busy growing and changing. Your child will benefit from the integrated expertise of our many pediatric specialists, who include epileptologists, neuroscience nurses, neuropsychologists and neurosurgeons, as well as technologists and experts in nutrition, care coordination and social services.
Because we are dedicated to treating children, we place special importance on supporting our patients and their families. We will work closely with you to find the best treatment plan for your child.
The highest level of care for children
Children’s is nationally recognized as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers for delivering the highest level of care, including comprehensive evaluation, testing, treatment and counseling for children with epilepsy and seizures. We are one of only a few Level 4 Epilepsy Centers in the country that is entirely dedicated to caring for children.
We are also the oldest and most experienced pediatric epilepsy program in the nation, evaluating more than 1,000 new patients and conducting more than 3,500 follow-up visits each year.
Dr. Jensen is new president of American Epilepsy Society
Frances E. Jensen, MD, director of Translational Neuroscience and of Epilepsy Research at Children's, is the new president of the American Epilepsy Society.
The 3,000-member Society is the world’s largest organization of epileptologists and healthcare professionals dedicated to the prevention, treatment and cure of epilepsy.
RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Magnetic brain stimulation advances to clinical trial for epilepsy
Patients with severe epilepsy can have seizures every day – sometimes waking up on the floor, not knowing what happened. For about 1 in 3 epilepsy patients, drugs are of no help.
Alex Rotenberg, MD, PhD, a neurologist in Children’s Hospital Boston’s Epilepsy Program, has been having success with an experimental technique for this kind of disabling, treatment-resistant epilepsy. Known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), it has helped a small number of patients with no other good options for controlling their seizures.
With support from the Epilepsy Therapy Project and the Epilepsy Foundation, Dr. Rosenberg will soon launch a clinical trial in patients with treatment-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Learn more.
Conditions & Treatments
Introducing Dody Robinson, MD
Children's is pleased to welcome Shenandoah "Dody" Robinson, MD, to our Department of Neurosurgery, where she will specialize in epilepsy surgery.
#1 in Neurology/Neurosurgery
Children's Hospital Boston ranks first in more specialties than any other children's hospital in the nation according to the 2011-12 edition of Best Children’s Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.
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