Brain, Spinal Cord and Nervous System Care at The Children's Hospital
The Children’s Hospital Division of Neurology is nationally and internationally recognized for providing outstanding consultation, clinical care and surgery for children and adolescents with neurological disorders.
Virtually all pediatric neurologists in the state of Colorado are members of The Children's Hospital team, making it one of the largest in the country and resulting in outstanding care. We offer comprehensive evaluation and treatment of neurological disorders, parent and patient education, comprehensive neurological consultation services, and inpatient and outpatient treatment including neurosurgery.
Our team is recognized for diagnosis, treatment and research in epilepsy, seizure disorders, development, infections, and inflammatory, vascular and genetic disorders affecting the nervous system. We have organized many programs to help coordinate the multiple specialists and services required for optimal diagnosis and treatment of these illnesses.
Our faculty members are active in laboratory and clinical research in the neurosciences to evaluate and improve treatment options for patients. As the only academic medical center in a five-state region providing such broad expertise, Children’s is the pediatric neurosurgical referral center for much of the western United States.
Areas of Expertise
- The Neurology Department treats more than 800 inpatients per year and sees over 6,000 patients per year in our outpatient clinics.
- Outpatient clinics include:
- The Children’s Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Program offers the Rocky Mountain Region’s only comprehensive treatment program for chronic seizure disorders.
- The Neurology Department conducts advanced scientific research into epilepsy and muscle disorders.
- The development of our Neuro-Oncology Program resulted in the region’s first pediatric Neurofibromatosis Clinic in 2003.
- Brain Lab® image-guided endoscopy allows our neurosurgeons to perform complex brain surgeries through relatively small openings in the skull.
- The Craniofacial Clinic treats a wide range of both congenital and traumatic abnormalities.
- Nearly all pediatric neurologists in the state of Colorado are members of The Children's Hospital team, making it one of the largest in the country and resulting in outstanding care.
Programs and Services
General Child Neurology
The Department of Neurology evaluates, consults on and manages children with disorders of the central and peripheral nervous systems. We provide neurological consultation, ongoing care and diagnostic services to identify, characterize and treat disorders of infancy, childhood and adolescence, including seizures and epilepsy, headache/migraines, neuro-metabolic, neuro-genetic, and neuromuscular disease.
To ensure positive outcomes, doctors work to know the patient as a whole child and develop a treatment plan with the entire family. Our multi-disciplinary team includes medical experts, specially trained nurses, neuropsychologists and psychosocial support personnel.
Appointments are made by referral from pediatricians and other community physicians.
The Children’s Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Program
The Children’s Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Program uses aggressive monitoring and operative procedures to treat chronic seizure disorders.
With an integrated team approach that includes the epileptologists in our department, neurosurgical specialist interventions can be coordinated with medication regimens to produce better results than either treatment on its own. Our neurosurgical team is one of the first groups in the nation to implant the new vagus nerve stimulator in young children with epilepsy.
Appointments are made by referral from neurologists, pediatricians and other community physicians.
Neuropsychology Services
Neuropsychology (a department within the Division of Neurology) provides consultation and evaluation regarding cognitive level of function, potential contributors to the difficulties, course, or progression of disease, risk for increased difficulty subsequent to treatment, and appropriate interventions.
We see patients with neurologic conditions such as seizures, hydrocephalus, brain tumors, stroke, inherited metabolic diseases, neurofibromatosis, and more. We also see children with medical disorders that have central nervous system effects, such as leukemia, cardiac disease or hemolytic uremic syndrome. Evaluations are often, but not always, completed in concert with hematologists, oncologists, neurosurgeons and neurologists.
Clinical evaluation includes assessment of motor and sensory functioning, memory, language, visuo-perceptual, thinking and reasoning skills, attentional and frontal lobe skills.
Appointments are made by referral from neurologists, pediatricians and other community physicians.
Neurophysiology Lab
Our neurosciences physicians and trained technologists record and study the electrical activity of the brain and nervous system in the Neurophysiology Lab to detect and diagnose disorders such as seizures and neuromuscular diseases.
Lab tests include:
- Electroencephalogram (EEG), which studies brain waves
- Electromyogram (EMG), which studies muscle movements
- Evoked potentials (EP) and the nerve conduction study (NCS), which test the pathways from the brain to the muscles and organs of the body.
Appointments are made by referral from neurologists, pediatricians and other community physicians.
Muscle Clinic
Our Muscle Clinic provides evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment for children and adolescents with neuromuscular diseases. Depending on the nature of the illness or injury, children and families will be supplemented with genetic counseling and support services.
Appointments are made by referral from neurologists, pediatricians and other community physicians.
Multidisciplinary Stroke Clinic
The Multidisciplinary Stroke Clinic at The Children's Hospital is a comprehensive care clinic for neonates and older children with ischemic arterial stroke or transient ischemic attack (also known as "TIA," or "mini-stroke"). We are equipped to care for pediatric stroke patients from the time of the initial event through long-term follow-up.
This monthly clinic involves the disciplines of hematology, neurology, psychiatry, neuropsychology, neurosurgery, and radiology. This team can thoroughly define stroke risk factors and clinical subtypes (for example, vascular injury, hypercoagulable states, underlying cardiac defects) in a given patient to facilitate optimal decision-making for acute and long-term medical treatments, as well as a safe and effective approach to preventing future strokes.
The need for ongoing rehabilitative services (for example, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy) and other important support services (academic support and resources) is continuously assessed on an individual basis. The ultimate goal of this clinic is to bring comprehensive services to the patient and family and to optimize the long-term outcomes of children with stroke and TIA.
Appointments are made by referral from neurologists, pediatricians and other community physicians.
General Neurosurgery Clinic
The Children’s Hospital’s pediatric neurosurgeons and staff care exclusively for infants, children and adolescents undergoing complex brain and spinal cord surgery. Pediatric neurosurgeons work closely with neurologists, as well as specialists in child development, neuropsychology, genetics and rehabilitation to address the needs of each patient.
Our staff also sees follow-up patients in clinic and is available to families who have questions.
The Children's Hospital Neuro-oncology program is made up of pediatric neurosurgeons, pediatric oncologists, pediatric neurologists and radiation oncologists for the treatment childhood brain tumors.
Through the affiliation with the University of Colorado Denver, Linac stereotactic radiosurgery is available for the treatment of pediatric brain and spinal tumors. The advanced linear accelerator (Linac) delivers a one-time, extremely precise high-dose radiation to brain lesions, targeting tumors while preserving the healthy surrounding tissue.
The Craniofacial Clinic specializes in the treatment of congenital and acquired deformities of the craniofacial skeleton and soft tissues, including cleft lip and palate, craniosynostosis, and other complex craniofacial conditions. Our team is involved with state-of-the-art research to identify causes and new treatments.
Level I Regional Pediatric Trauma Center
The neurosurgeons at The Children’s Hospital actively participate in the Level I Regional Pediatric Trauma Center when neurotrauma is suspected or diagnosed.
Upon notification, and often prior to arrival, a specially trained trauma team is assembled to begin the diagnosis and treatment of the trauma patient. The team evaluates the patient using carefully developed trauma protocols. This systematic assessment minimizes the chance that an injury will be missed.
The trauma team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to treat the most severely injured patients. Team members may include pediatric trauma surgeons, physicians from other surgical and medical specialties, nurses and social workers.
As an extension of neurotrauma care, The Children's Hospital Neurotrauma Rehabilitation Program provides comprehensive, family-centered services to children who have neurological or musculoskeletal impairments due to traumatic injury, illness or congenital development conditions.
The Children’s Hospital Concussion Program evaluates and treats children and teenagers who have sustained concussions and other mild head injuries. The Concussion Program aims to provide high quality, multidisciplinary clinical care while delivering scientifically accurate and up-to-date information about pediatric mild head injury. Thorough medical examinations evaluate and treat problems seen after concussion, while consultations help with decisions about when an athlete should return to play sports.
