Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital tracks and measures the number of patients who visit to help us improve the care we offer to children and their families.
We use the information to find out which areas we can improve. Le Bonheur has one of the largest pediatric neurology programs in the country, and hundreds of children come through our doors every year.
Le Bonheur’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center is also one of the country’s best. Our Epilepsy Center was recently reaccredited as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center, the highest level by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers. To achieve Level 4 status, epilepsy centers must meet certain criteria, including volume of video-EEG monitoring, physician experience and more. Level 4 centers have the professional expertise and facilities to provide the highest-level medical and surgical evaluation and treatment.
Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Admissions
Why it is important: Because our Epilepsy Monitoring Unit is one of the biggest in the country, we have some of the most experienced epilepsy doctors. Le Bonheur is one of the few pediatric hospitals in the nation that has offers state-of-the-art technology, including functional MRI (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and intraoperative MRI (iMRI).
Epilepsy Surgery Volumes
The graph below compares the number of epilepsy surgeries we have performed in the past five years.
Why it is important: Our neurosurgeons are some of the most experienced in their field. The comprehensive team treats children with the most complex diagnoses and conducts research to provide innovative treatments to children with epilepsy. Le Bonheur offers a variety of epilepsy surgery options for the treatment of pediatric epilepsy, including:
- Resection surgery: The part of the brain that causes seizures is removed.
- Corpus callosotomy: The nerve fibers between the two sides of the brain are severed or cut. This interrupts the spread of seizures from one side of the brain to the other.
- Hemispherectomy: One side of the brain is partially removed and disconnected from the other side. This surgery is performed only if seizures have not responded to medications and in special circumstances (Rasmussen’s encephalitis, hemiplegic cerebral palsy, hemimegalencephaly).
- Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS): A small device (VNS) is implanted beneath the skin of the chest and is connected by a thin wire to the vagus nerve. This device is programmed to send impulses to the brain, which helps stop the seizure or quicken the recovery.
- Responsive neurostimulator system (RNS): A device (RNS) is implanted to reduce seizures in individuals 18 years of age or older with partial onset seizures.
Brain Tumor Surgery Cases
Le Bonheur neurosurgeons also remove brain tumors, which can cause seizures and other health problems. The graph below shows the number of brain tumor resection surgeries performed in the last five years.
Why it is important: Le Bonheur teams up with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the removal and treatment of children with brain tumors. Because we perform so many brain tumor surgeries, our neurosurgeons have some of the most experience in the country.
