Epilepsy Management Center

Since 1991, the Epilepsy Center at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) has gained an international reputation for offering expert clinical care supported by groundbreaking research into new treatment methods for epilepsy disorders and related neurological diseases. Our New York state-designated facility offers the most advanced approaches to epilepsy in a caring, family-centered environment. We are a level 4 epilepsy center offering the full range of medical and surgical procedures for the treatment of epilepsy and related seizure disorders.

Our center offers pioneering, comprehensive care using state-of-the-art technologies, including prolonged video-electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring, which allows us to capture seizures in real time and provide diagnostic evaluations of complex seizure disorders. We also, in conjunction with our autism program, offer expertise in evaluating and treating Landau-Kleffner syndrome, autistic regression, Pelt syndrome and other complex disorders of childhood.

Our experienced, multidisciplinary team gives us a leading edge. Our staff includes internationally renowned epilepsy specialists:

• Pediatric epileptologists
• Neurosurgeons
• Neuropsychologists
• Neuropsychiatrists
• EEG technicians
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Social worker case managers
• Nursing staff specifically trained to care for patients with seizures

Comprehensive, family-centered care

By offering new applications of both medical and surgical approaches to treatment, we can benefit an increasing number of children. Those as young as four years old now receive treatments only available to adults a decade ago. Such developments have led to greater collaboration between our child neurology and pediatric neurosurgery divisions, which has led to advancements in the treatment of neurological neoplasms.

Our patients benefit from the following:

• Long-term EEG monitoring to evaluate selected patients with seizure disorders 
• Brain MRI, PET scan
• WADA test, performed prior to surgery, to map out the regions of the brain responsible for the seizures
• Highly precise surgery on the brain which may correct some conditions
• Access to new and experimental medications and treatments

We offer specialized medical therapies and supplemental support services, including:

• Ketogenic diet
• Steroid therapy 
• Neuropsychological testing 
• Cognitive remediation
• Education and support services for patients and their caregivers

We have made significant breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating childhood seizure disorders and autism, including the relationships between seizures and seizure, induced hippocampal damage and the epidemiology of autism and language disorders.

We frequently help patients with particularly complicated concerns, including:

• Intractable seizures that don't respond to medication
• Difficult diagnoses because of the types of seizures they are experiencing, or because it is difficult to determine if they are having seizures or other events
• Evaluation for epilepsy surgery

Commitment to ongoing research

Our staff specialists are committed to further advancing epilepsy care and have received the prestigious American Epilepsy Society research recognition awards for clinical research and the study of basic mechanisms, as well as National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants.

We are currently conducting clinical research on the long-term prognosis of childhood seizures, and on short- and long-term consequences of prolonged febrile seizures on children. We are also involved with studies on the best treatments for childhood seizures as well as their impact on quality of life and school performance. Our ongoing research also includes studies focused on the mechanisms of seizures in the developing brain, in the hopes of developing better treatments for childhood seizures.