Beaumont Children's Hospital Opens Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic

ROYAL OAK -- Beaumont Children's Hospital expanded its neuroscience services Jan. 7 with a Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic, offering treatment options and services for infants, children and teens with seizures and epilepsy.

The clinic offers comprehensive evaluations and schedules tests, including MRIs, PET scans and EEGs, for those with mild to complex forms of epilepsy.

About 50,000 new cases of childhood epilepsy are diagnosed each year. Epilepsy is a neurological condition in the brain that makes a person more susceptible to having seizures. A seizure occurs when parts of the brain receive a burst of abnormal signals that temporarily interrupts normal brain function. When a person has two or more seizures, he or she is considered to have epilepsy.

The clinic, located in suite 302 of the Medical Office Building at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, specializes in helping patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. To schedule an appointment, call (248) 551-3302.

"We treat all forms of epilepsy ranging from mild -- when seizures are controlled with medications or not recognized, to catastrophic -- when a person is having a seizure and is unresponsive," said clinic director Daniel Arndt, M.D. "About one-third of patients with the severe form of epilepsy will not respond to any medication."

In addition to Dr. Arndt, a pediatric epileptologist who specializes in the treatment of epilepsy in children, the Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic works with a highly trained multidisciplinary team of specialists. The staff includes pediatric neurologists, pediatric neuroscience nurses, pediatric EEG technologists and a nurse coordinator who schedules testing and follow-up care. The clinic's staff also collaborates with several specialties including pediatric neurosurgery, ophthalmology, radiology and physical, occupational and speech therapy.

With the unpredictability of epilepsy and the challenge it can present to some families, the clinic provides resources and guidance for parents and caregivers in a single location.

"We are using the most advanced EEG and imaging technologies available and working hand-in-hand with pediatric neurosurgeons," Arndt said. "The goal is to give our patients and families freedom from seizures and provide them with an excellent quality of life. We want patients to feel 'normal' again."

For more information about Beaumont neuroscience services, visit http://neurosciences.beaumont.edu/.