Pediatric critical care neurology, also referred to as neurocritical care, focuses on protecting and treating the brains of critically ill and injured children.
At Children’s National Hospital, we provide advanced and compassionate neurocritical care to children from newborns to young adults. Our program has expertise in treating acute brain injury, from the Emergency Department to the Neurocritical Care Unit (also known as the Neuro ICU) and through rehabilitation and beyond.
Our Providers
Our pediatric specialists provide personalized care for your child’s physical, mental and emotional health needs.
Contact Information
For appointments, please call 1-888-884-BEAR (2327) and for information, call 202-476-2120.
Why Choose Us
Children’s National is one of only a handful of centers in the nation to offer pediatric neurocritical care, and we’re the only such program in the Washington, D.C., area.
Features of the Critical Care Neurology program at Children’s National include:
- Responsive, continuous care. Our Neurocritical Care Unit has advanced technology and monitoring capabilities that allow us to accurately diagnose and assess your child’s condition at every stage of his or her stay with us.
- Family resources and support. We understand that being in an intensive care unit is an emotional and scary time, for the patient and their family. We offer support services for families to help you cope with social, educational and emotional difficulties.
- Dedicated follow-up clinics. Children’s National offers a follow-up program to provide comprehensive care even after your child has left the ICU. Our outpatient programs include an Intensive Care Unit Follow-up Clinic, a Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disorders Clinic, and the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Program, among others.
- Finding better treatments through research. Our team is leading research studies and collaborating with other centers to advance the field of and provide your child with the best pediatric neurocritical care available. We are passionate about finding better treatments for children with neurologic disorders.
At Children’s National, pediatric critical care neurology is provided by our Critical Care Neurology team in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (Cardiac ICU) and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
We also offer a dedicated Neonatal Neurocritical Care Program through our nationally top-ranked Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Conditions We Treat
Neurologic conditions we care for include:
- Recovery from neurosurgery
- Arterial ischemic stroke
- Intracranial hemorrhage, including arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
- Cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT)
- Encephalitis/meningitis
- Status epilepticus, including febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES)
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Anoxic brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Neuromuscular emergencies, including infantile botulism and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS)
- Neurological complications of critical illness
Highly Specialized Care Team
Neurocritical care requires the expertise of many highly specialized pediatric professionals working together to provide comprehensive and individualized care for your child. Our team at Children’s National includes:
- Critical care neurologists
- Specialists in pediatric critical care medicine
- Neuroradiologists
- Neurointerventional radiologists
- Neurosurgeons
- Nurses
- Pharmacists
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) physicians
- Physical therapists
- Social workers
Patient Stories
Giving Bella Hope for a Brighter FutureIn the first weeks of life, Bella underwent a series of procedures that her doctors and family agreed were necessary to end constant seizures from hemimegalencephaly (HME), a rare brain disorder in which one half of the brain grows abnormal and large and misbehaves by triggering repeated difficult seizures.
Help Your Child Grow Up Stronger
Read about everything parents need to know about kids' health, straight from our experts at Children's National Hospital.