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If surgery is right for treating your child's epilepsy, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh uses a range of techniques.
Our Epilepsy Surgery Program experts focus on helping your child enjoy a seizure-free life so they can achieve their goals.
Before epilepsy surgery, it's vital to pinpoint the part of the brain where the seizure is coming from (seizure focus).
Often, we can learn this through an MRI or EEG.
If not, your child may need to have a stereo-EEG to find the seizure focus. This involves placing thin wires into the brain for seizure mapping.
The ROSA robot:
We then use ROSA's robotic arm as a guide to do precise surgery.
Using very thin recording wires, we access the brain through tiny drill holes. This is much less invasive than the standard approach which requires having to remove a part of the skull.
In epilepsy surgery, we guide the placement of the wires through pre-planned pathways learned by ROSA's brain mapping. Then, we use the robot's arm to guide needle-thin tools to find where seizures occur in the brain.
Using laser ablation, we treat seizures with heat.
Guided by MRI, we direct a laser fiber through a small hole in the skull to the seizure's source. We then use heat from the laser to destroy the abnormal brain tissue causing the seizures.
The MRI displays thermal maps, which outline the supply of heat in real time to ensure safety and success.
UPMC Children's Hospital has one of the most experienced laser ablation centers in the U.S., particularly for kids needing callosotomy.
Using a mix of brain mapping before and during surgery, we remove the part of the brain causing seizures. This is the most common type of epilepsy surgery.
It gives complete seizure relief for 50 to 90% percent of people.
This technique may also work if your child's epilepsy is:
The corpus callosum is a tract of tissue that connects the left and right sides of the brain.
A corpus callosotomy cuts this tissue to unlink the two sides of the brain.
It's not a cure but can help reduce how often seizures occur and how severe they are.
This technique may help if your child's seizures don't respond to drugs and start from one half of the brain.
With hemispherotomy, we detach the outer layer (cortex) of one half of the brain from the other half. This prevents seizures from spreading to the healthy side of the brain.
Neurostimulation treats epilepsy when seizures don't respond to medicine, or when surgery isn't an option or helpful. The goal of using this technique is to reduce seizures and their effects.
UPMC Children's offers three types of neurostimulation:
The vagus nerve is one of the many highways that carry messages to and from the brain. Because it connects to many regions in the brain, this nerve can be a key target for treating seizures.
During VNS, we:
The generator sends mild electrical impulses up the nerve at steady intervals. This changes the brain's electrical activity and lessens seizures.
For DBS, we:
The generator sends mild and steady electrical pulses through the wire to the brain. This alters electrical activity of the brain to reduce seizures.
When seizures start in a part of the brain we can't remove, your child may find relief from responsive neurostimulation.
The implanted RNS System is a small, battery-powered smart device that:
We place wires from the device on the surface of the brain, within the brain, or both.
To make a referral, schedule an appointment, or request an evaluation for a child or teen, contact us at 412-692-6928 or email epilepsysurgery@chp.edu.
Children's Hospital's main campus is located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Our main hospital address is:
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh One Children’s Hospital Way 4401 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224
In addition to the main hospital, Children's has many convenient locations in other neighborhoods throughout the greater Pittsburgh region.
With MyCHP, you can request appointments, review test results, and more.
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To pay your bill online, please visit UPMC's online bill payment system.
Interested in giving to Children's Hospital? Support the hospital by making a donation online, joining our Heroes in Healing monthly donor program, or visiting our site to learn about the other ways you can give back.