MADERA, CA. (KMJ) — A brand-new unit is now officially open at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera.
The ward is a first-of-its-kind for the Central Valley, uniquely equipped to help treat patients with epilepsy.
Valley Children’s Hospital says around 13,000 kids of the 1.3 million that use its hospital have the disease.
This new Level 4 epilepsy monitoring unit will help doctors watch and record children’s brains during seizures.
The ultimate goal is to hugely reduce the number of seizures.
Cesar Santos, director of neurology & neurosciences at Valley Children’s Hospital said, “That’s really the name of the game… trying to record seizures. Looking at them on video, and EEG, and based on that, doing other tests, neuro-psychological, PET, MRI, all those things. If we could identify where the seizures are coming from then we talk about the surgical option. We’ve done 19 surgeries here, and out of the 19 surgeries 78 percent are seizure-free.”
Valley Children’s Hospital says the rest of those patients saw drastically fewer seizures.
Before this new facility opened, families who wanted to try any other treatment options besides medications, had to drive to hospitals in the Bay Area.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
