Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, offers surgical treatment for all types of neurological disorders affecting the nervous system and skull, including traumatic injury, hydrocephalus, brain tumors and epilepsy.

Comprehensive Care From Norton Children’s

As part of the Norton Children’s system, our neurosurgery team partners with plastic surgery, orthopedics, neurology, oncology and other specialties to provide innovative care tailored to the individual needs of each child, teen or young adult.

Our neurosurgeons are committed to finding better treatments and improving the health of every child they treat. We work with a support team of rehabilitation therapists, child life therapists and others to make sure each child has access to the care they deserve.

Conditions Treated by Norton Children’s Neurosurgeons

Our pediatric neurosurgeons team up with plastic surgeons, oncologists, orthopedic surgeons and other specialists to provide expertise for a wide range of conditions.

We provide comprehensive care for children with conditions including:

• Brain tumor
• Brain injury/concussion
• Chiari malformation
• Craniofacial surgery
• Craniosynostosis
• Epilepsy
• Hydrocephalus
• Neuropsychology
• Spasticity
• Spina bifida
• Spine surgery
• Spine tumor
• Tethered spinal cord
• Trauma

Why Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute?

• The Norton Children’s Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Center is a Level 4 epilepsy center, the highest rating available from the National Association of Epilepsy Centers. Norton Children’s Hospital has held this designation since 2013.
• We are the first in Kentucky and among the first in the nation to use neurostimulation in a pediatric patient.
• Regional neurology care is available for children across Kentucky and Southern Indiana. We travel to clinics in Bowling Green, Campbellsville, Corbin, Elizabethtown, Frankfort, Owensboro and Paducah, Kentucky; and Evansville, Indiana. We also perform a number of telemedicine visits each week.
• The specialists with Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, use state-of-the-art technology to treat epilepsy, uncontrollable seizures and deep brain tumors in children who, in the past, would not be candidates for surgery, including:
  • Visualase: Technology that allows neurosurgeons to perform MRI-guided laser ablation surgery. Fewer than two dozen pediatric hospitals in the U.S. offer this technology.
  • Surgical Theater: Virtual reality technology that creates an immersive 3D view of a patient’s brain, allowing neurosurgeons, the patient and family to see inside the skull and brain to get a greater understanding of the condition and impact of potential procedures. Norton Children’s Hospital is the first hospital in the region to use this technology.
• We offer dedicated multidisciplinary clinics for brain tumors, traumatic brain injuries, spina bifida, craniofacial injuries and disorders, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, spasticity, headache/migraine, autism and neurocutaneous disorders.
• Our multidisciplinary craniofacial program was the first established in the Midwest.
• We offer a neurogenetics clinic to evaluate and treat children with neurogenetic syndromes.
• We have a neuropsychology program that specializes in the evaluation of children and teens with a variety of neurological, neurodevelopmental and medical conditions, including brain tumors and epilepsy.
• Outpatient neurology facilities in downtown Louisville are equipped with in-office electroencephalography (EEG) capabilities and laboratory services in the same building, creating a streamlined, family-centered environment.
• We offer the region’s first clinic to treat children with immune-mediated neurological disorders.

Verified Level I Children’s Surgery Center

• Norton Children’s Hospital is verified as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons Children’s Surgery Verification (ACS CSV) Quality Improvement Program.
• The ACS CSV program was developed to improve the quality of children’s surgical care. CSV standards ensure that children needing surgery receive care under a multidisciplinary program with quality improvement and safety processes, data collection and appropriate resources provided to them as patients at the hospital.
• Our commitment to quality care begins with appropriately trained staff and leadership from surgeons who participate in meetings throughout the year to review the hospital’s surgical outcomes. The surgical team seeks continuous improvement to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients.