Neurosurgeons at Penn Medicine and at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) provide a full complement of diagnostic, evaluation and treatment services for infants, children and adolescents up to age 19. Particular emphasis is placed on treating children with brain or spinal tumors.
A multidisciplinary neuro-oncology group is active in this area and all diagnostic modalities are available for the investigation of lesions of the brain, including CT scanning, magnetic resonance imaging, functional MRI, spectroscopy and magnetoencephalography (MEG).
Pediatric Brain Tumor
The program also collaborates with the top brain tumor scientists in world at the CHOP/Colket Translational Research Center. CHOP is pioneering work that will identify genetic abnormalities that cause tumors and then specifically target those abnormalities.
There is also access to interventional services and focused radiation therapy techniques through Penn Radiation Oncology. Neurosurgeons at Penn Medicine work in partnership with their colleagues at CHOP to provide access to additional services, such as radiation therapy techniques including proton beam therapy, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Fetal Neurosurgery
Neurosurgeons play a critical role in caring for patients at the CHOP Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, working with the fetal surgery team to close myelomeningoceles spinal cord malformations while the child is still in the uterus.
Pediatric Neurotrauma
Additionally, neurosurgeons are members of the trauma and neurology teams at CHOP. As a Level 1 pediatric trauma center, CHOP has a large clinical research program in pediatric head and spine trauma.
Pediatric Epilepsy
The Pediatric Regional Epilepsy Program (PREP) at CHOP is a multidisciplinary effort for children with refractory or intractable seizures. The program provides evaluation services, medical therapy and epilepsy surgery.
Neurosurgery at CHOP provides state-of-the-art care for disorders of the brain and spine and, through the transfer center and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), is able to expeditiously accept patients at any time.