At the Cerebrovascular Surgery and Interventions Center (CSIC) at Boston Children’s Hospital, we provide comprehensive care to infants, children, teenagers, and young adults with diseases and disorders affecting the blood vessels in and around the brain and spine. We’re incredibly proud of our groundbreaking work in diagnosing and treating cerebrovascular conditions such as cavernous malformations, moyamoya disease, vein of Galen malformations (VOGMs), and arteriovenous malformation (AVMs) in ways that are less invasive, safer, and faster than traditional treatments.
Our center directors, Edward Smith, MD, and Darren Orbach, MD, PhD, are renowned leaders in treating pediatric cerebrovascular disease, and our multidisciplinary team includes Alfred See, MD; Laura Lehman, MD, MPH; and other experts in areas such as neurosurgery, neurology, neurointerventional radiology, anesthesia, cardiology, neonatology, and nursing. We work together to develop the best treatment plan possible for each patient.
Our team provides the latest surgical and endovascular treatment for conditions such as:
After undergoing a fetal intervention for VOGM while she was still in her mom’s womb, Denver is thriving. Watch the video.
Children with cerebrovascular or neurovascular disease face the risk of bleeding in the brain or too little blood to the brain (ischemic stroke). To address these risks, our multidisciplinary team includes experts in areas such as:
We use a range of surgical and endovascular techniques to treat cerebrovascular and neurovascular conditions, ideally before they cause serious brain injury.
Also instrumental to our team are our dedicated nurse practitioners, including Christopher Isibor and Jennifer Judge, who have specialized training and expertise in the field of cerebrovascular conditions and neurosurgery. Our nurse practitioners help lead our efforts in patient assessment and evaluation, diagnosis and treatment planning, postoperative care, medication management, and patient and family education and advocacy. Working with our program coordinator, our nurse practitioners help before, during, and after treatment.
Our goal is to provide a seamless, team-based, and personalized approach to care.
Our team is an international leader in publishing innovative methods for evaluating and treating cerebrovascular and neurovascular conditions in children, teens, and young adults. Many interventions, such as pial synangiosis for moyamoya and fetal intervention of vein of Galen malformations, were developed at Boston Children’s.
We’ve established one of the world's largest global studies of pediatric cerebrovascular disease, which informs our approach to care and provides new hope to children with complicated cerebrovascular and neurovascular conditions. Our commitment to research has led to innovations that have impacted national guidelines and influenced care approaches to cerebrovascular disease worldwide.
National statistics show that Boston Children’s has the highest volume of several complex pediatric cerebrovascular disorders in the U.S.
