Pediatric Epilepsy Center

Children's has the only Level 4 freestanding pediatric epilepsy center in the state of Wisconsin. Our Level 4 designation means we provide the highest level of complex and specialized care for children living with epilepsy. With state-of-the-art facilities and one of the leading surgical pediatric epilepsy centers in the country, we provide comprehensive, cutting-edge treatment for patients with epilepsy. We use a combination of therapies, including diet, medication and surgery, and are well suited for treating the most difficult cases.

Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU)

Our EMU is a state-of-the-art evaluation center, with advanced technology to allow specialists to observe your child and to record brain activity and physical symptoms 24 hours a day over several days. We see more than 900 patients in our EMU each year. Within our EMU, we have 18 dedicated beds for epilepsy monitoring that have high definition video monitoring equipment to allow us to monitor patients more closely for epilepsy episodes. The information our specialists gain allows us to determine the specific type of seizure, frequency, and origin, and to define the treatment that best suits your child. We also have 14 portable EEG units which allow our EMU to provide remote EEG monitoring services for our PICU and NICU patients who need an evaluation for epilepsy.

Dedication to research and innovation

Our neurologists and neurosurgeons are dedicated to advancing epilepsy diagnosis and treatment options through ongoing clinical research efforts. Neurosciences research is conducted in collaboration with the Neuroscience Research Center at The Medical College of Wisconsin. New techniques for diagnosis and treatment are included in our patient care as they become available. Learn more about our recent research and clinical trials.

Comprehensive, multi-disciplinary epilepsy treatment 

Our Neurosciences Center isn't only made up of neurologists and neurosurgeons. The program also incorporates specialists in many related sub-specialty areas, including but not limited to: physical medicine and rehabilitation, neuropsychology, neuropathology, neuroradiology, and genetics. The depth and breadth of complex neurological knowledge and experience makes our program truly comprehensive.

Diagnosing your child's epilepsy

Evaluation of your child's epilepsy often requires admitting your child to the hospital for video EEG monitoring in our EMU. This noninvasive procedure translates your child's electrical brain activity into a digital format for analysis. A digital video recording is taken at the same time, allowing our specialists to observe and analyze a continuous record of your child's seizures. The diagnostic evaluation is tailored to the individual patient and often includes a variety of advanced imaging, a neurospsychological evaluation, and genetic testing. All of the information gathered about your child during this evaluation is used to properly diagnose the type of seizures your child has and to develop an optimal treatment plan.

Approximately 2,000 patients receive standard EEG evaluations for epilepsy at Children’s each year, and 95% of standard EEG and long term EEG monitoring reports are evaluated and recorded within 36 hours so that patients receive their evaluations in a timely manner. Children’s is proud to hold ABRET-EEG accreditation for EEG labs meeting technical standards and demonstrating quality output. 

Treating your child's epilepsy