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Neuropaediatrics
Our role
The Neuropaediatrics Department treats all diseases of the nervous system in children – brain, spinal cord, bone marrow, peripheral nerves and muscles – from diagnosis to treatment. The care is psychosocial as well as medical and surgical.
The department's mission is to provide children with the best possible care through a multidisciplinary and humanist approach. It also seeks to offer the complete medical and paramedical team stimulating working conditions rooted in respect, for which clinical, scientific and teaching excellence are the motor. Finally, as a tertiary centre, special attention is paid to communication with the paediatricians and generalists who place their trust in us in referring their patients for specialised opinions.
Our specialities
The refractory epilepsy unit provides personalised care with a special focus on ensuring that the patient and family are involved in the care plan. Thanks to a highly specialised multidisciplinary team, the child is at the centre of care when:
- treating epileptic episodes with innovative treatment (medicinal, dietary, surgical in cooperation with the Erasmus Hospital) - contact : Pr Alec Aeby et Dr Cynthia Prigogine
- dealing with learning difficulties and the psychological and social impact of the illness.
The neuromuscular reference centre proposes consultations for diagnosing neuromuscular diseases and multidisciplinary care involving physiotherapists, orthopaedists, ergotherapists, psychologists, etc. in cooperation with the centre dedicated to adults at the Erasmus Hospital. For some diseases gene therapies can be proposed. Specialised consultation for neuro-inflammatory pathologies permits an adapted and multidisciplinary treatment of these rare and complex diseases involving intensive care, physical medicine and pain management - contact : Pr Nicolas Deconinck et Dr Pauline Dontaine
Prenatal diagnosis proposes the treatment of neurological diseases at the earliest possible stage with pre- and post-natal teams from the HUB and IRIS networks. This makes it possible to determine the neurological prognosis, to participate in therapeutic decisions and to provide pre- and post-natal follow up best suited to the specific and ethical needs of the child and family.
The multidisciplinary centre for neurodevelopmental pathologies (and trisomy 21) proposes multidisciplinary consultations for the optimal care of these pathologies. Consultations with all the specialists are scheduled on the same day to avoid unnecessary travel - contact : Dr Anne Monier
Our team
Our specialists doctors
Focus
The Neuropaediatrics Department cooperates with other national and international university centres within the European Research Network (ERN) EpiCare via the BRACE (Brussels Rare and Complex Epilepsies) centre.
Research
- The department is actively involved in a number of research projects, in particular on the link between epilepsy and cognition in centrotemporal epilepsy thanks to the support of the Belgian Kids Fund and IRIS Fund in cooperation with the UR2NF.
- It actively participates in developing innovative treatments for neuromuscular diseases.
- It is actively seeking to improve the treatment of dyspraxia in children.
Teaching
Teaching is at the heart of the department's practice:
- As an internship department approved by the Federal Department of Public Health for paediatric neurology, we organise weekly multidisciplinary tours with trainee doctors in particular.
- We participate actively in a number of interuniversity certificates (epilepsy, neuromuscular diseases, paediatric neurology).
- Several doctors and paramedics teach and supervise doctoral theses in several faculties.
Publications
Frontoparietal 18F-FDG-PET hypo-metabolism in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: Further evidence highlighting the key network.
- Authors : Balfroid T, Warren AEL, Dalic LJ, Aeby A, Berlangieri SU, Archer JS
- Journal : Epilepsy Res. 2023 May;192:107131. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2023.107131. Epub 2023 Mar 30.PMID: 37054522
Cognitive, perceptual, and motor profiles of school-aged children with developmental coordination disorder.
- Authors : Van Dyck D, Baijot S, Aeby A, De Tiège X, Deconinck N.
- Journal : Front Psychol. 2022 Aug 3;13:860766. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.860766. eCollection 2022.PMID: 35992485
Risdiplam in Type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
- Authors : Baranello G, Darras BT, Day JW, Deconinck N, Klein A, Masson R, Mercuri E, Rose K, El-Khairi M, Gerber M, Gorni K, Khwaja O, Kletzl H, Scalco RS, Seabrook T, Fontoura P, Servais L; FIREFISH Working Group
- Journal : N Engl J Med. 2021 Mar 11;384(10):915-923. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2009965. Epub 2021 Feb 24.PMID: 33626251 Clinical Trial.
A qualitative awake EEG score for the diagnosis of continuous spike and waves during sleep (CSWS) syndrome in self-limited focal epilepsy (SFE): A case-control study
- Authors : Aeby A, Santalucia R, Van Hecke A, Nebbioso A, Vermeiren J, Deconinck N, De Tiège X, Van Bogaert P
- Journal : Seizure. 2021 Jan;84:34-39. doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2020.11.008. Epub 2020 Nov 17.PMID: 33276197