Fetal-Neonatal Neurology Program
Who we are
In our Fetal-Neonatal Neurology Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, we provide comprehensive care for babies who experienced a brain injury or have a congenital neurological condition.
We care for children with a variety of conditions, including:
Conditions acquired in utero (before a child is born)—also called congenital (present at birth) conditions:
Brain malformations:
- holoprosencephaly
- schizencephaly
- lissencephaly
- pachygyria
- polymicrogyria
- periventricular nodular heterotopia
- other migrational disorders
- focal cortical dysplasias
- Chiari malformations, types I and II (spina bifida)
- agenesis or dysgenesis of the corpus callosum
- Dandy-Walker malformation and other malformations of the posterior fossa
- congenital hydrocephalus, e.g., due toaqueductal stenosis
Congenital infections:
- congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection
- congenital toxoplasmosis
- congenital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection
- congenital rubella syndrome
- other congenital infections, such as:
- hydrocephalus,ventriculomegaly
- intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)
Conditions acquired by newborns and young infants:
- hypoxic-ischemic brain injury
- newborn seizures
- newborn stroke
- hyperbilirubinemia affecting the brain
- hemorrhage (bleeding) in the brain
- germinal matrix hemorrhage (GMH), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)
- hydrocephalus, including posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus, benign external hydrocephalus
- meningitis
- encephalitis
- periventricular leukomalacia or white matter injury
- brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy)
- neurological follow-up of children who receive ECMO
Neurological symptoms or signs in newborns or young infants:
- seizures
- microcephaly
- macrocephaly
- plagiocephaly
- torticollis
- spasticity, hypertonia
- dystonia
- hypotonia
- quadriparesis, hemiparesis, diparesis
- visual problems, abnormal eye movements
Evaluation and care
By seeing your child while he is very young, we can identify neurological problems early and intervene quickly.
We may prescribe medicines to treat your child’s seizures, spasticity or other neurological problems.
An important part of our evaluation process is testing your child’s cognitive and language development, which is done by our developmental psychologist.
Other types of care that we may recommend for your child include:
- physical therapy
- occupational therapy
- speech and language therapy
- vision therapy
Most of these therapies are provided through Early Intervention programs in your community. We may also make referrals for evaluations for these therapies at Children’s.
As your child grows up
If your child needs ongoing neurological care, we will help you make the transition to another Children’s program that specializes in caring for older children. This usually happens when your child is around 3 years old.
The programs we refer patients to include:
