Caring for the whole child is paramount at the Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins. An accurate diagnosis must be made and an appropriate treatment strategy must be designed. This can only be done by understanding all of the other medical, psychological, social and educational issues that are involved. The child must thrive within the family, the school and the community.
Our book, Seizures and Epilepsy in Childhood: A Guide, now in its 3rd edition, has become the standard text to help families touched by children with epilepsy.
Diagnostic services that are available to our patients on site and in collaborations include:
- Complete seizure history
- Comprehensive neurological examination
- Neurophysiological tests (routine EEG, outpatient video-EEG, Wada testing)
- Long-Term Video-EEG Monitoring: scalp and intracranial
- Neuroimaging: MRI, MRS, PET, fMRI, ictal SPECT
- Neuropsychology
- Speech and auditory processing evaluations
Treatment Options
- Pharmacological management: Use and monitoring of the appropriate anti-convulsant medications to control seizures without significant side effects.
- Diet Therapy – The Ketogenic Diet Program: The high fat, low carbohydrate ketogenic diet has been managed through the Pediatric Epilepsy team at Johns Hopkins since its beginnings in the 1920s. We are the premiere center in the world for clinical and research expertise regarding the ketogenic and modified Atkins diet. We have enrolled over 700 children over the past few decades on the ketogenic diet and 100 on the modified Atkins diet. Learn more about the ketogenic diet.
Over the past decade, many centers outside the United States have started their own ketogenic diet programs. This information and referral information can be obtained on the Keto World-Wide webpage. - Surgery: Removal of regions of the brain that are responsible for seizures while protecting functionally important tissue. Learn more about our Surgical Expertise >>>
- Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS): A procedure that does not involve brain surgery where a small pacemaker-like device is surgically implanted below the skin on the upper chest. The device delivers a small electrical current to the vagus nerve in the neck. An impulse continues up the nerve to the brain. Our doctors along with others have found that the vagus nerve stimulator can be helpful for children with epilepsy, especially when combined with the use of the ketogenic diet.
- Experimental: Patients may be eligible to enroll in clinical studies that test new medications, new approaches to dietary therapy (modified Atkins diet), and new surgical approaches involving brain stimulation. Learn more about our Clinical Trials.
