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SPECIAL FEATURE Controlling and Curing Pediatric Epilepsy at Akron Children's By Alex Strauss E PILEPSY IS ONE of the most com- plex pediatric brain disorders. It can emanate from multiple areas of the brain, manifest in differ- ent types of seizures, and occur at various stages of life — from infancy to young adulthood. Epilepsy can also have a dra- matic impact on cognitive development, social interactions, emotions, behavior and even academic skill development. Akron Children's Hospital's new Pediatric Epilepsy Program, part of the NeuroDevelopmental Science Center, is equipped to diagnose and treat the many facets of epilepsy. With a multidis- ciplinary team of experts, the program's goal is to normalize the lives of children with epilepsy. "Akron Children's has a compre- hensive program to treat children and adults," says epileptologist Deborah Holder, MD, director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology. Before joining Akron Children's, Dr. Holder directed epilepsy programs at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. It is her job to help pinpoint the area of the brain that is triggering a patient's seizures. "We offer all the treatments currently available, including medications and trials of new medications under investiga- tion," she says. "We offer a special high-fat diet called the ketogenic diet, and we have an epilepsy surgery program as well as a new epilepsy monitoring unit." Pediatric neurosurgeon Roger Hudgins, MD, director of Neurosurgery and the NeuroDevelopmental Science Center, has been performing epilepsy surgeries for two decades. He stresses that, although surgery is not the first-line treatment for most patients, it is a vital option for some. "If we can control seizures without sur- gery, we do," says Dr. Hudgins. "For about 70 percent of children, we achieve good Pediatric neurosurgeon Roger Hudgins, MD, director of Neurosurgery and the NeuroDevelopmental Science Center at Akron Children's Hospital, has been performing epilepsy surgeries for two decades.