Patient Care

UAMS Section Pediatric Neurology Clinical Services

Our team of child neurologists at UAMS strive to provide personalized and comprehensive care for infants, children and adolescents with various neurological disorders in both inpatient and outpatient settings. As the only specialists focused on pediatric neurology in the state of Arkansas, our board specialized neurologists focus on complete evaluations and treatment plans as well as strong collaborations between referring providers and other subspecialists within our hospital system. Our team of child neurologists and APRNs serve patients throughout the state through our clinics at Arkansas Children’s in Little Rock as well Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale and Arkansas Children’s Pediatric Clinic in Jonesboro.

Conditions we treat include:

• Seizures/Epilepsy
• Neuromuscular disorders such as spinal muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophy
• Headaches
• Neurocutaneous disorders such as neurofibromatosis or tuberous sclerosis
• Neuroimmunologic disorders such as multiple sclerosis or autoimmune encephalitis
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Neurometabolic disorders
• Cerebral Palsy
• Pediatric Stroke
• Spasticity
• Tics/Tourette Syndrome
• Neurological complications of other pediatric diseases

Specialized clinics we are involved in include:

• Complex Epilepsy Clinic
• Brain Tumor Clinic
• Neurofibromatosis Clinic
• Tourette Clinic
• Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic
• High Risk Newborn Clinic
• Spinal Cord Disorders Clinic
• Central Demyelinating Disorders Clinic
• Spinal Muscular Atrophy Clinic
• Muscular Dystrophy Clinic
• Dystrophinopathy Clinic
• Neuropathy Clinic
• High Risk Newborn Clinic
• Headache Clinic
• Spasticity Clinic
• Neurometabolic Disorders Clinic
• Neurodevelopmental Clinic
• Childhood Post-infectious Autoimmune Encephalopathy Clinic

Highlights of clinics and programs within our section:

• Comprehensive Neuromuscular Clinics Program (Director: Aravindhan Veerapandiyan, MD)
  • The Neuromuscular Program at Arkansas Children’s Hospital is dedicated to treating infants, children, and teens with neuromuscular disorders. Widely recognized for providing expert care in multiple specialty clinics, Arkansas Children’s neuromuscular program features an all-inclusive, collaborative care team. Specialties involved in this clinic include:
    • Pediatric Neurology
    • Pediatric Rehab Medicine
    • Pediatric Cardiology
    • Pediatric Pulmonary
    • Pediatric Genetics
    • Pediatric Neuropsychology
    • Physical Therapy
    • Orthotics/Prosthetics
    • Respiratory Therapy
    • Genetic Counseling
    • Nutrition Services
    • Social Work
  • Clinics within this program:
    • Dystrophinopathy Clinic: The dystrophinopathy clinic focuses on children and teenagers diagnosed with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies. In this comprehensive program, children receive care from a large multidisciplinary team of specialists that include a neurologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist, endocrinologist, nutritionist, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, physical therapist, neuropsychologist, genetic counselor, social worker, and nurse care coordinator. The dystrophinopathy clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital is designated as a Certified Duchenne Care Center by the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy organization.
    • Muscular Dystrophy Clinic: In the muscular dystrophy clinics, the neuromuscular team provides care to children with muscular dystrophies and myopathies such as congenital myopathies/muscular dystrophies, limb girdle muscular dystrophies, Pompe disease, Friedreich ataxia, and myasthenia gravis. Arkansas Children’s Neuromuscular Program is recognized as a Muscular Dystrophy Association Pediatric Care Center.
    • Spinal Muscular Atrophy Clinic (Director: Kapil Arya, MD): Our Spinal Muscular Atrophy Multidisciplinary Clinic was one of the first programs in the country to be certified as a CureSMA Spinal Muscular Atrophy care center. This clinic cares from children from birth through early adulthood and help provides a smooth transition to an adult SMA center after this. Our physicians were instrumental in implementing the AR Newborn Screen Program for SMA and these physicians continue to advocate for these patients as SMA consultants to the AR department of Health. The clinic provides state of the art SMA care including treatments such as gene therapy as well as participation in multiple nationwide and worldwide SMA treatment trials. This allows our patients to receive the latest and most advanced treatment options for their diagnosis.
    • Neuropathy Clinic: The neuropathy clinic focuses on patients with genetic neuropathies, such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease and hereditary sensory motor neuropathy as well as acquired neuropathies such as CIDP. This clinic involves a comprehensive team that include a neuromuscular neurologist, a physical medicine rehabilitation physician a physical therapist, occupational therapist, and an orthotist. Arkansas Children’s Neuromuscular Program is recognized as a CMT Center of Excellence by two separate organizations — the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation and the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association.
    • Undiagnosed Neuromuscular Clinic: Any pediatric patient who is suspected of having a neuromuscular condition is seen in our undiagnosed neuromuscular clinic.

• Complex Epilepsy Clinic (Director: Debopam Samanta, MD)
  • Patients with intractable epilepsy are seen at our Complex Epilepsy Clinic with an emphasis on thorough assessment and exploration of various treatment options to give these patients the best results. To deliver state-of-the-art care, our skilled team of board-certified epileptologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, and neuroradiologists collaborate closely across disciplines. The National Association of Epilepsy Centers has designated Arkansas Children’s as a Level 4 epilepsy facility, indicating that Arkansas Children’s offers the most specialized diagnosis and treatment options for patients with epilepsy. Regarding diagnostics, inpatient EEG monitoring in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU), diagnostic testing with access to cutting-edge technology like magnetoencephalography, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and functional MRI, as well as access to dieticians and other support staff are all possible components of evaluation through this Complex Epilepsy Clinic. Beyond diagnostics, this clinic also offers a variety of treatment options, including epilepsy surgery, dietary therapies, pharmacological treatments, and neurostimulation devices such as vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), responsive neurostimulation (RNS), and deep brain stimulation (DBS). Finally, the multidisciplinary team is also heavily involved in cutting-edge research, including clinical trials that are available to patients with epilepsy.

• Ketogenic Diet Clinic (Director: Manan Nath, MD)
  • The Ketogenic Diet Clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital is the only ketogenic diet program in the state of Arkansas. Our program comprising of an epilepsy physician, two nutritionists and specialty nurse coordinator provides comprehensive evaluation and management of dietary therapies for pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Our team offers initiation and longitudinal monitoring of classic ketogenic, modified Atkins, and low–glycemic index treatments, with standardized protocols for metabolic screening, adverse-effect mitigation, and outcome tracking (seizure burden, growth, and labs). We collaborate closely with the patient’s primary neurologist to align dietary therapy with antiseizure regimens, genetics, and comorbidities, and to support inpatient or outpatient diet initiation as appropriate.

• Central Demyelinating Disorder Clinic (Director: V. Erin Willis, MD)
  • Our Pediatric Demyelinating Disorder Clinic sees patients with both acute and chronic central demyelinating disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein associated disorders (MOGAD) and transverse myelitis (TM). Dr. V. Willis is the director of this clinic and is a National MS Society MS Partner in Care. The clinic focuses not only on diagnosis but comprehensive treatments for these diagnoses with access to multidisciplinary specialists including neuropsychology, physical therapy, rehabilitation, neuro-ophthalmology and social work. Clinical trials are also available to patients within this clinic to provide access to the latest evaluations and treatments in children with central demyelinating disorders.