All Children's Neuroscience Institute

About the All Children's Neuroscience Institute

The goal of the All Children's Neuroscience Institute is to provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for patients with neurological disorders --  we work closely with All Children's specialists in pediatric neurooncology, pediatric neuroradiology, pediatric neuropsychiatry and behavioral medicine, and the area's only pediatric neuropathologist, along with the full range of pediatric subspecialty care. Our experienced pediatric neurosurgeons work with a team of skilled physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and technologists to provide comprehensive care before, during and after hospitalization.

Pediatric Neurosurgery

Pediatric Neurosurgery is the branch of Neurosurgery that is concerned with the disorders of the nervous system and its supporting structures in children. Children are not just miniature adults -- they have unique physiology and problems. The specialty of Pediatric Neurosurgery is exclusively practiced by approximately 140 surgeons in the United States. Board certification in Pediatric Neurosurgery requires additional training and certification above that required for certification in general Neurosurgery (adult and pediatric).

The Pediatric Neurosurgery Program at All Children's Hospital is one of the largest in the southeast and provides comprehensive pediatric neurosurgery care for patients from throughout central and west Florida. We provide inpatient care at the new All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, which has an inpatient Neuroscience & Surgery Unit with 28 individual patient rooms. For enhanced continuity of care and follow-up, we see patients at All Children's Specialty Care Centers in Tampa, Brandon, Lakeland and Ft. Myers as well as at in our offices in St. Petersburg.

We specialize in the surgical treatment of a wide range of problems, including:

• Hydrocephalus
• Brain Tumors
• Chiari malformations
• Congenital abnormalities of the nervous system
• Craniosynostosis and other craniofacial abnormalities
• Epilepsy
• Head & spinal trauma
• Infections of the nervous system
• Spasticity & other movement disorders
• Spinal Anomalies, including tethered cord and other congenital malformations

Pediatric Epileptology

Pediatric epileptologists limit their practice to caring for children with epilepsy, particularly patients whose seizures are not well controlled by standard epilepsy medications. Our program specializes in the comprehensive evaluation of patients who have difficult-to-treat epilepsy. In most children medication can effectively control seizures, but there are some children and teens with epilepsy who have unacceptable side effects from medication or whose seizures are resistant to medication (intractable seizures).

Our Pediatric Epilepsy program has a full spectrum of epilepsy services, including:

• An inpatient Seizure Monitoring Unit with video EEG
• Evaluation and management of antiepileptic medications
• MRI & functional MRI
• PET & SPECT scans, WADA testing
• Ketogenic diet and nutritional counseling
• Genetic and metabolic testing 
• Vagal nerve stimulation
• Epilepsy surgery performed by our experienced pediatric neurosurgeons

Our Facilities 

The Neuroscience & Surgery Unit in the new All Children’s Hospital features 28 individual patient rooms with comfortable accommodations for parents to stay overnight with their child. Six of the rooms on our Neuroscience Unit are designated Seizure Monitoring Rooms for patients undergoing comprehensive EEG and video event monitoring. All Children’s 12 new surgical suites include a dedicated Neurosurgical Operating Room, with equipment for intraoperative brain mapping. We offer minimally invasive and stereotactic brain and spine surgery.

Diagnostic Services include:

• Newest generation pediatric MRI & CT scanning
• Functional MRI
• Fetal MRI: ultrafast rapid acquisition studies allow direct visualization of the fetal brain in order to characterize structural malformations such as cerebral malformations and destructive lesions
• Interventional Radiology Suite
• CT/SPECT and Nuclear Medicine studies
• Inpatient Seizure Monitoring Unit
• EEG & Neurophysiology Laboratory
• PET Scan and MRI with Pediatric Anesthesia
• We participate in the Image Gently program to reduce children’s radiation exposure

More Information

• Office Information and Downloadable forms
• Meet our Pediatric Neurosciences Staff