Beyond medication: How dietary therapy can help children with drug-resistant epilepsy
If your child has epilepsy that doesn’t respond well to medication, you may feel like you’ve run out of options. But there’s hope in an unexpected place: the foods your child eats. Alternative epilepsy treatments for children have come a long way, and dietary therapy has emerged as a powerful tool for managing seizures, especially…
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One type of seizure can cause brain damage and needs emergency treatment
A seizure that lasts more than five minutes, or at least two seizures without full recovery in between, can cause brain damage or worse in children and newborns. Call 911 and get emergency treatment immediately. Prolonged seizures, known as status epilepticus, are very serious and life-threatening, according to Jeetendra P. Sah, M.D., child neurologist at…
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Treating seizures in children using electrical stimulation
Using electrical stimulation to treat seizures in children — neuromodulation — is a potentially life-changing treatment option for kids with drug-resistant, or refractory, epilepsy. “Neuromodulation is the alteration of nerve activity through targeted delivery of a stimulus, such as electrical stimulation,” said Ian S. Mutchnick, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute. Small…
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Epilepsy surgery risks: How technology can help families make informed choices
If your child has seizures that aren’t helped by medication, you may be considering surgery. Epilepsy surgery’s risks and benefits for a child are complicated and are better understood with as much information as possible. To help with this task, pediatric neurosurgeon Ian S. Mutchnick, M.D. M.S., and the team at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute…
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My child had a seizure. Is it epilepsy?
If your child has a seizure, it can be scary. What caused the seizure? Could your child have epilepsy? While epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in the U.S., having a seizure does not necessarily mean a child has epilepsy. Up to 10% of people will have a seizure at some point…
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Sisters’ bond helps family manage epilepsy
Seven years ago, my younger sister, Samantha, was diagnosed with epilepsy. Who would have thought that fluttering her eyes was actually a seizure? Sam didn’t seem herself, and so our pediatrician ordered a sleep-deprived electroencephalogram (EEG). This is a test that looks at how the brain works when it’s tired. At first, Sam thought it…
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What to do when someone has a seizure
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 out of 10 people may have a seizure in their lifetime. Having a seizure is much more common than many people realize –– and one day, you may need to help someone. Do you know what to do when someone has a seizure?…
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Norton Children’s Neurosurgery using new virtual reality brain-modeling technology
There is an amount of uncertainty with any type of neurosurgery. Neurosurgeons study a patient’s medical history, current condition, and computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to plan for surgery. However, those images can show only so much. Once surgery begins, surgeons may face issues that they couldn’t have anticipated. Now, however,…
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Disney star Cameron Boyce’s family says a seizure led to his death: What is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)?
When actor Cameron Boyce, star of the Disney Channelshows “The Descendants” and “Jessie,” died at age 20, his family said in a statement that his sudden death was due to a seizure during sleep. According to the family, the star was receiving ongoing treatment for the seizure disorder epilepsy. The Centers for Disease Control and…
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Laser ablation surgery now available for kids with epilepsy, brain tumors
Norton Children’s Hospital has joined an elite group of pediatric hospitals with a real-time, thermal imaging and laser system to perform laser ablation surgery for epilepsy, uncontrollable seizures and deep brain tumors. The technology, called Visualase, allows doctors to perform MRI-guided laser ablation surgery, which is less invasive and in most cases has a much…
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