Pediatric Epilepsy NJ
Pediatric epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in children. It causes repeated seizures and affects how the brain functions. Families looking for epilepsy treatment NJ or a trusted child epilepsy specialist Rutherford NJ should seek care as early as possible.
At Advanced Neurosurgery Associates, our experienced epilepsy specialists provide personalized care for children with epilepsy and other seizure disorders. We use advanced testing to identify the cause of seizures and create a treatment plan that fits each child’s needs.
Children with epilepsy may experience more than seizures. Some also have learning challenges, behavior changes, anxiety, or depression. Our team provides complete care that supports both the child and their family.
We offer a full range of treatment options, including medication management, advanced diagnostic testing, and epilepsy surgery when appropriate. Our goal is to reduce seizures, protect brain development, and improve your child’s quality of life.
With nearly 60 years of combined experience, the specialists at Advanced Neurosurgery Associates have helped many children achieve better seizure control and long-term success. Families across New Jersey trust our team for compassionate, expert care.
If your child has seizures or has been diagnosed with epilepsy, contact Advanced Neurosurgery Associates today at 201-457-0044 to schedule an appointment with a leading epilepsy specialist for advanced epilepsy treatment in NJ.
At Advanced Neurosurgery Associates, our experienced epilepsy specialist doctors understand that pediatric epilepsy affects more than seizures. It can also impact a child’s learning, behavior, emotions, and overall quality of life. That’s why we provide team-based, family-centered care for every child.
How Pediatric Epilepsy Can Affect Children
Pediatric epilepsy may impact the following:
- Learning and academic performance
- Behavior and social development
- Anxiety and depression
- Memory and concentration
- Daily activities and overall quality of life
Our specialists work closely with families to address these challenges while focusing on long-term seizure control and healthy development.
Why Families Choose Advanced Neurosurgery Associates
Nearly 60 years of combined experience treating pediatric epilepsy.
Experienced epilepsy specialist doctors providing personalized care.
Advanced diagnostic testing to identify the cause of seizures.
Comprehensive treatment, including medication management and epilepsy surgery when appropriate.
Compassionate, family-centered care from diagnosis through recovery.
Families across New Jersey trust Advanced Neurosurgery Associates for expert epilepsy care. Our goal is to help children achieve better seizure control, improve their quality of life, and return to healthy, active lives.
Causes of Epilepsy in Children
Pediatric epilepsy may be due to a medical condition or an injury that affects the brain, or the cause could be idiopathic (of unknown origin).
Common known causes of pediatric epilepsy include:
- Fever, stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA)
- Traumatic brain injury
- Infections, including brain abscess,
- meningitis, and encephalitis
- Brain problems that are present at birth (congenital brain defect)
- Hydrocephalus
- Brain tumor
- Abnormal blood vessels in the brain
Can You Grow Out of Epilepsy?
An ongoing treatment program is one approach to living with epilepsy, although there are instances when seizures might disappear. For example, some types of epilepsy ease at puberty, where children might appear to “outgrow” their seizures.
These three grades of concussions were characterized as follows: Grade 1 was characterized by transient symptoms and Grade 3 was the most serious and requires immediate medical attention.
Epilepsy Surgery for Children
An epilepsy diagnosis requires evaluating the cause of epilepsy and to determine whether the seizure disorder falls within a recognized syndrome.
An epilepsy diagnosis is a multi-step process, usually involving:
- patient history
- neurological exams
- laboratory tests
- other clinical studies.
Initially, the patient’s own testimony will be elicited for a medical history. However, depending on age, and also because the patient is often unaware during a seizure, a witness(s) can adequately describe the seizure characteristics and patterns. Thus, in keeping with our family-centered and sensitive approach, we engage family and caretakers as an important part of the diagnosis and evaluation process.
An EEG (electroencephalogram) will be done to check the electrical activity in the brain. People with epilepsy will often have abnormal electrical activity seen on this test. In some cases, the test may show the area in the brain where the seizures start.
Diagnosing Epilepsy in Children
There are many decisions for parents during the process of diagnosing the type of your child’s epilepsy and deciding the best treatment option.
As in every case treated at ANA, each candidate for surgery is reviewed by our team of experts, and a consensus decision is made with both medical staff and in constant and methodical communication with the child’s family.
Our care approach extends beyond our patients to their families and caregivers, because we know how important a support system is during these tough times. You can read about our physicians and our team.
Epilepsy Surgical Evaluation
Certain diagnostic tests may be performed to determine if surgery would be an effective treatment. This surgical evaluation can involve a number of tests to develop the diagnosis of the cause and location of the epileptic seizures.
Evaluation prior to surgery for epilepsy has changed radically in the past few decades, most notably since the advent of long-term video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring in the late 1970s, and advanced neuroimaging, specifically with the additional use of MRI.
Epilepsy Testing and Diagnosis
To develop the epilepsy diagnosis before surgery, patients partake in extensive testing, such as:
- Electroencephalogram (EEG), which helps identify the seizure focus
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the “gold standard” for locating and evaluating brain lesions
- Functional MRI (fMRI), which creates a “road map” of brain functions
- Single-photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT) to explore where the seizure starts and its spread patterns
- Intracarotid Memory and Speech Evaluation (Wada test), a test of language and memory functions.
- Both before and during surgery, tests may be performed to map motor, sensory, language and memory functions; such as functional brain mapping and awake craniotomy.
It is also important to consider the emotional effects. Neuropsychology and psychiatry are a vital part of ANA’s epilepsy team’s evaluation.
EEG & Video Monitoring
Electroencephalography (EEG) is the fundamental measure of identifying seizure focus. The epileptologists on our team are adept at reading the spikes and sharp waves that constitute a spectrum of shifting seizure focus. Most patients undergoing evaluation for surgery will require EEG with video telemetry to document the seizure pattern.
However, an appropriate focus goes beyond single readings. Our experts evaluate EEG monitoring over a period of time. This is a critical measure to determine a clear onset and location of seizure activity.
MRI
While computerized tomography (CT) scan can provide some useful information about lesions which may be causing seizures, the “gold standard” for locating and evaluating brain lesions is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The greatest advance of MRI technology for epilepsy is the incredible clarity of both the normal and pathological anatomy of the brain. Since the mid-1980s, this technology has allowed us to routinely identify lesions that were previously undetectable.
Functional MRI (FMRI)
Magneto-Encephalography
Nuclear Imaging
Nuclear medicine, which deals with imaging the body for both diagnostic and treatment purposes, plays an important role in the pre-surgical assessment of patients with refractory epilepsy. This is evident in the case of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) which is used to determine the seizure onset zone.
SPECT (single proton emission computed tomography) has an important role in the investigation of surgical candidates. Ictal (meaning taking place during a seizure) SPECT has also been useful to study seizure-spread patterns. Blood flow increases in the brain area in which the seizure originates and the blood flow can become less than normal in that same area during non-seizure states. By injecting a small and safe amount of a radioactive substance into a patient’s blood stream via IV we can evaluate the blood flow in the brain at a given time. Changes in blood flow during and after a seizure can be helpful in localizing seizure focus and spread patterns.
Neuropsychology
Epilepsy Treatment
Epilepsy treatment depends on the type and severity of seizures, the cause of epilepsy, the child’s age, and overall health. At Advanced Neurosurgery Associates, we provide personalized treatment for epilepsy in New Jersey based on each patient’s individual needs.
For children whose seizures cannot be controlled with medication, epilepsy surgery may be recommended. Early treatment can help reduce seizures and support healthy brain development.
Before surgery, every patient undergoes a complete physical and neurological evaluation, along with advanced diagnostic testing. Our experienced team works together to determine the most effective treatment for epilepsy in New Jersey and provide the best possible care for every child.
Medication
At least half of those newly diagnosed with epilepsy will become seizure-free with their first medication—if they take it regularly and as prescribed. The efficacy of these medications of course depends on the type and severity of the epilepsy. In some cases, medication may diminish but not completely control all seizure activity.
Many various types of anticonvulsant (also called antiepileptic) drugs are available. Some patients respond to one drug and some may need more than one. It may take several months before the best drug and dosage are determined. Patients are monitored throughout the medication process via blood tests.
Diet
A ketogenic diet, one which supplies the majority of calories from fat as opposed to glucose, mimics the body’s response to starvation by burning fat for energy. Scientists are not precisely sure why this diet prevents seizures, although it is being studied. Estimates vary from 10-30% of children who try it become seizure free, or almost seizure free. And over half who try it gain a 50% reduction in seizures. The remainder do not respond or are unable to tolerate the diet because of side effects.
Epilepsy Surgery for Children
- benign brain tumors,
- malformations of blood vessels (e.g. arteriovenous malformations, venous angiomas, and cavernous angiomas)
- strokes.
How Does Surgery Treat Epilepsy?
- the removal of epileptogenic tissue from the zone where seizures arise,
- an alteration in the brain, by interrupting the nerve pathways along which seizure impulses spread.
Lobectomy and Cortical Resection
The most common form of epilepsy surgery is a lobectomy or cortical resection. It is estimated that approximately 30% of patients with partial epilepsy have seizures that are not well controlled with medications and could benefit from this surgery.
Seizures in the temporal, parietal, frontal or occipital lobes may be treated surgically if the seizure-producing area can be safely removed without damaging vital functions.
Corpus Callosotomy
Corpus callosotomy is the sectioning, or separating of the corpus callosum—a nerve bridge which connects the two halves of the brain and integrates its functions. Separating the cerebral hemispheres reduces generalized seizures by confining the spread of an epileptic discharge to one cortex.
A corpus callosotomy may be performed when partial seizures secondarily generalize and it’s not possible to identify a single epileptic focus, or when resection of a localized focus would cause a pronounced neurological deficit. Uncontrolled generalized seizures may also be treated with this type of surgery.
The operation may be done in two steps. The first operation partially separates the two halves of the brain, but leaves some connections in place. If the generalized seizures stop, no further surgery is done. If they continue, a second operation to complete the separation may be performed.
Multiple Sub-pial Transection
Hemispherectomy
When a child has Rasmussen’s encephalitis, a rare, progressive disease affecting one whole hemisphere of the brain, a hemispherectomy may be performed.
A hemispherectomy is the removal of all or almost all of one side of the brain. Weakness on the side opposite the operation will continue, but the half that remains takes over many of the functions of the half that was removed.
Hemisperectomies may also be performed when children are born with conditions that cause excessive damage to one side of the brain, such as bleeding in the brain prior to birth.
Vagal Nerve Stimulator (VNS) Placement
Functional Brain Mapping and Awake Craniotomy
WHAT WE OFFER SERVICES
Pediatric epilepsy, a condition that affects the nervous system, is the most common neurological problem in children.
Of the approximately 150,000 people in the U.S. who develop epilepsy each year, 20,000 to 45,000 are children and adolescents. The highest risk group in the pediatric population is infants between 1 and 12 months of age.
Pediatric epilepsy is defined as two or more unprovoked seizures occurring more than 24 hours apart in a child older than one month. Seizures are episodes of abnormal brain activity that can affect movement, behavior, awareness, or consciousness.
Have more questions about your child’s diagnosis? Schedule a consultation with an experienced pediatric epilepsy specialist at Advanced Neurosurgery Associates.
Pediatric brain and spine tumors are abnormal growths that develop in the brain, spinal cord, or surrounding tissues during childhood. They are among the most common solid tumors diagnosed in children and require specialized evaluation because a child’s brain and spine are still developing.
Some tumors grow slowly and remain localized, while others grow more rapidly and require prompt treatment. Even benign tumors may cause serious symptoms if they place pressure on important areas of the brain or spinal cord.
Our pediatric brain tumor specialists carefully evaluate every child to determine the tumor type, location, and the most appropriate treatment approach. When spinal tumors require surgery, our experienced spine surgeon New Jersey team collaborates with pediatric specialists to provide safe, effective care tailored to growing children. Get a Second Opinion
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does epilepsy occur in children?
Epilepsy in children can happen because of brain injuries, infections, birth defects, or genetic factors. In some cases, the exact cause is not known. Specialists at Advanced Neurosurgery Associates (ANA) evaluate children carefully to understand the possible cause of seizures.
How do I know if my child has epilepsy?
A child may have epilepsy if they have repeated seizures, staring spells, sudden confusion, or unusual body movements. If these symptoms happen more than once, it is important to see a doctor for evaluation.
Do kids with epilepsy have behavioral issues?
Some children with epilepsy may experience behavioral or emotional changes, such as irritability, anxiety, or difficulty focusing. This can happen because seizures affect brain activity or due to stress from the condition.
How can you prevent a seizure?
Seizures can sometimes be prevented by taking medications as prescribed, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and avoiding known triggers such as flashing lights or missed medication.
Can a child with epilepsy grow out of it?
Yes, some children outgrow epilepsy as they get older, especially if their seizures are mild and well-controlled with treatment.
What are the early signs of epilepsy?
Early signs may include staring spells, sudden confusion, brief jerking movements, unusual behavior, or loss of awareness. These symptoms may happen suddenly and last for a short time.
Can epilepsy affect memory?
Yes, epilepsy can sometimes affect memory and concentration, especially if seizures happen often. Proper treatment can help manage these symptoms.
Do kids with epilepsy have behavioral issues?
Some children may have mood changes, irritability, or trouble concentrating, but many children with epilepsy live normal and active lives with proper treatment.
What are the common symptoms of epilepsy in children?
Some children may have mood changes, irritability, or trouble concentrating, but many children with epilepsy live normal and active lives with proper treatment.
At what age does epilepsy start?
Epilepsy can start at any age, but it often begins in early childhood or during the teenage years. Some children may have their first seizure in infancy, while others develop epilepsy later as they grow. Early diagnosis helps doctors manage the condition and control seizures effectively.
Get Expert Epilepsy Care for Your Child
Living with epilepsy can be overwhelming for the whole family but seizure freedom is possible. Our pediatric epilepsy specialists provide thorough evaluation, advanced surgical options, and compassionate, ongoing support to help your child thrive.