Pediatric Nephrology

Pediatric Neurology is a medical branch that deals with disorders of children's brain, spinal cord and muscles. Pediatric Neurology division diagnoses and treats neurologic disorders of childhood, such as convulsion, growth retardation starting at infancy, cerebral palsy, muscle diseases and diffuse developmental diseases like autism. Flawless and healthy development of children’s nervous systems is crucial for human and public health. Various diseases such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, mental retardation, movement disorders, autism, muscle diseases, spinal cord and peripheral nerve diseases may occur due to damages in the developing nervous system during pregnancy, in birth or the postnatal period or due to genetic diseases and those disorders may affect the entire life and even life expectancy of the child. Services are rendered by physicians who are specialists in their fields at the Pediatric Neurology Department of Okan University Hospital.

Which features are assessed in the examination?

• General status of health, reaction and development according to age
• Orientation and knowledge
• Head circumference
• Verbal and movement skills
• Coordination, accession and balance
• Strength, ability to walk
• Reflexes
• Pathologic and newborn reflexes
• Visual field and hearing
• Eye movements and fundus

A part of these examinations may provide suspicious and insufficient information considering the age. General clinical picture and medical history are quite determinative. Generally, the importance of additional tests becomes prominent after those.

Which diseases are tested and treated?

1. Neurologic developmental problems according to age

• Delay in walking
• Hypotonic infants (SMA)
• Delay in language development
• Autistic complaints
• Problems in learning and school life (attention problems)

2. Conditions which are associated with an altered state of consciousness or attacks

• Febrile seizures
• Epileptic seizures
• Fainting
• Breath-holding spells
• Headache

3. Problems that develop at birth or during pregnancy

• Brain damages secondary to difficulty delivery (cerebral palsy (CP), spastic or hypotonic paralysis)
• Damages secondary to preterm delivery (spastic diparesis, tetraparesis)
• Damaged arm muscles during delivery (brachial plexopathy)
• Microcephaly (head size that is smaller than average)

4. Weakness and imbalance

• Muscle disease (Duchenne muscular dystrophy)
• Nerve involvements (Guillain-Barré Syndrome, Charcot–Marie–Tooth Syndrome)
• Ataxia

5. Conditions diagnosed with imaging tests (MRI, CT, US)

• Hydrocephaly (Fluid collection in the brain)
• Cysts in the brain (Arachnoid cyst)
• Brain tumours
• Cerebral haemorrhage, arteriovenous malformations and vascular dilatations (AVM, aneurysm)
• Congenital anomalies of the spinal cord (Spina bifida)
• Movement disorders
• Tics (simple tics or Tourette Syndrome)
• Dystonia (Uncontrollable muscle contractions)
• Choreoathetosis (Involuntary rapid movements or writing)

6. Behavioral disorders

• Hyperactivity/attention deficit
• Social adaptation problems
• Obsessions

7. Genetic or metabolic disorders

• Thyroid gland problems
• Amino acid metabolism disorders
• Organic acid metabolism disorders
• Mitochondrial diseases
• Chromosome anomalies (Down Syndrome)
• Genetic clinical pictures that are evident with facial or other structural anomalies