• Fifteen percent of pediatric brain tumors are totally curable with surgery alone. For those tumors requiring more extensive treatment, our pioneering innovations in surgical techniques, chemotherapy and radiation therapy have led to minimizing adverse effects on cognitive and neuroendocrine development and improving survival rates.
• Mass General has some of the most experience with pituitary disease in the world. We have much success in treating children with Cushing’s disease and acromegaly.
• Mass General has a large neurofibromatosis program, with emphasis on both scientific and clinical application, and was one of the first facilities to acknowledge the unique multidisciplinary problems that patients with neurofibromatosis and their families face.
• We provide multidisciplinary management of inherited neurologic syndromes including Von Hippel-Lindau disease through a Neurogenetics Clinic.
• Arteriovenous malformations are the most common cause of hemorraghic stroke in children. Mass General performs more neurovascular procedures than any facility in New England, using a proven combination of surgery, radiosurgeryand endovascular embolization.
• After headache, epilepsy is the most common neurologic problem in children. Mass General offers a full range of medical management and all of the established and novel anti-epileptic drugs. When, after a careful evaluation of the child, surgical intervention is indicated, 60–70% of patients post-surgery become seizure-free or are dramatically improved, with the remaining patients having a reduction in their seizures

Pediatric Neurosurgery Story Book:

(Acrobat pdf version)

“Deciding to proceed with a functional hemispherectomy for Jake was the most difficult decision we would ever have to make. We didn’t know if the surgery would cause further damage to his left side. Up to this point, he used his left arm just a little, but he could run on his left leg. We even went out-of-state to get a second opinion, and were actually advised to continue trying more medications. But, we realized that we had a great deal of confidence that Dr. Cole and Dr. Cosgrove could cure Jake’s seizure disorder. In fact, the night before his surgery, we were still deciding on a less radical surgical procedure, but the information Dr. Cole and Dr. Cosgrove gave us enabled us to make an informed decision about the course that we wanted for our son… Since his surgery, Jake is more coordinated, alert and receptive to learning. He plays on two soccer teams, enjoys tennis, swims, has an incredibly accurate one-handed basketball shot and is as bright as they come.”

excerpts from an interview Jake's mother.

Among the surgical conditions for which MassGeneral Hospital for Children has special expertise:

• Management of pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors
• Vascular problems includingarteriovenous malformations,aneurysms, moya-moya disease
• Hydrocephalus
• Head and spinal cord injuries
• Congenital anomalies of the spine and brain such as encephaloceles, Chiari malformations, syringomyelia, myelomeningoceles, spinal lipomas, tethered spinal cord
• All forms of surgical epilepsy treatment including cortical resections, lobectomies, functional hemispherectomies, callosotomies, multiple subpial transections, vagus nerve stimulation.

Pediatric & Developmental Neurosurgery Center: