Neurosciences

Littleton Adventist Hospital’s stroke program is a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. This designation reflects our commitment to providing patients with expert diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and patient education. The Comprehensive Stroke Center designation is only awarded to hospitals that have unique capabilities to treat the most complex stroke cases.

Our Comprehensive Stroke Center provides:

• 24/7 stroke care: Neurologists and neurosurgeons are available 24/7 for stroke alerts and life-saving interventional and surgical procedures.
• Rapid Response: Emergency room nurses, specially trained in rapid response stroke protocols, work closely with EMS teams to assure the fastest possible treatment that starts while you or your loved one are being transported to the hospital.
• Specialized Intensive Care: We feature a separate neurosciences intensive care unit staffed by registered nurses who are trained in the assessment and care of patients who have had a stroke.
• Acute Stroke Rehabilitation: Stroke rehabilitation is one of the most vital phases of recovery for many stroke survivors. Our neuroscience center features an acute stroke rehabilitation program, providing customized treatment plans combining physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy to give patients the strengths and skills they need to return to their highest level of function.
• Support System: Case managers are available to assist families with decision making, rehabilitation placement options, insurance questions, and transportation. Chaplains are also available to help provide spiritual and emotional support for families and patients.

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological condition, affecting more than 65 million people worldwide. While epilepsy is commonly associated with children, it can occur at any point in life. After age 55, the rate of new cases of epilepsy starts to increase, as people develop strokes, brain tumors, brain injuries, or Alzheimer's disease, which all can cause epilepsy.

Littleton Adventist Hospital has developed a comprehensive program for those 17 and older with epilepsy. The hospital is a designated Level 3 Epilepsy Center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers. Level 3 Epilepsy Centers have the professional expertise and facilities to provide medical evaluation and treatment for patients with complex epilepsy. Our multidisciplinary epilepsy team includes epileptologists, neuroscience nurses, EEG technologists, a neuroscience educator, neuropsychologists, neurosurgeons, case managers, and social workers.

The Littleton Adventist Hospital epilepsy program includes:

• Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU): The EMU is designed for patients 17 and older who need prolonged inpatient video electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring. In the EMU, the medical team can safely activate seizure activity by removing anti-epileptic drugs in a controlled environment to provide an accurate diagnosis. The EMU is physically located within the ICU, so patients are closely monitored by nursing staff and have immediate access to acute care when seizures do occur. Using the EMU, our epilepsy experts can make a definitive diagnosis in 88% of cases. The EMU findings also influence treatment in as many as 80% of these cases.
• Medical Management: Most people with epilepsy can become seizure-free by taking anti-seizure medication, also called anti-epileptic medication. But finding the right medication or combination of medications is complex. Littleton Adventist Hospital epileptologists, neurologists who specialize in treating patients with epilepsy, are experienced in this process and can help you through this process. Once we have a definitive diagnosis of epilepsy, your Littleton epileptologist will consider the type and frequency of seizures, your age, your overall health and any other medications you might be taking and other factors to determine which medications to try. If medication doesn’t provide satisfactory control of your seizures or causes unwanted side effects, your doctor may suggest surgery.
• Epilepsy Surgery: The expert neurosurgeons at Littleton Adventist Hospital offer all types of epilepsy surgery, including minimally invasive procedures such as the new Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) that uses laser energy to destroy tiny amounts of brain tissue that initiate a person’s seizures. In addition to LITT, Littleton neurosurgeons offer responsive neurostimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, and traditional resection. Our neurosurgeons offer this range of surgeries to ensure that each patient is provided with the procedure that is most appropriate for their type of epilepsy, health history, and lifestyle goals. Almost every adult with epilepsy whose seizures are not being controlled by medication to the level they desire is a candidate for epilepsy surgery.

The Neuroscience Center at Littleton Adventist Hospital features cancer experts who diagnose and treat a wide variety of malignant or benign brain tumors, skull base tumors, as well as spinal and pituitary tumors. Our neuro-oncology team uses the most advanced brain cancer treatments available today, including precision medicines like immunotherapy and minimally invasive brain surgery. If you need hospitalization after surgery, you will be cared for in our special neurosurgery critical care unit staffed by nurses specially trained in neurological conditions or those recovering from neurosurgery.

The most common benign, or non-cancerous, tumor that we treat is meningiomas, which make up the majority of all brain tumors. These tumors arise from cells in the meninges, which is the lining of the brain and spinal cord. We also diagnose and treat malignant, or cancerous, tumors of the brain, head, base of the skull, pituitary gland, and spine. These tumors can be primary, which means the tumor started in the brain. Or they can be metastases, which means that cancer cells from somewhere else in the body have spread to the brain. Metastatic brain cancer is often referred to as “mets.” The most common cancerous primary brain tumor is called glioblastoma.

Our neuro-oncology team includes medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, neurosurgeons, nurse practitioners, and nurse navigators. This team reviews patient cases and form a customized treatment plan for you or your loved one.

Traumatic brain injuries, or concussions, occur in people of all ages. Older adults experience the highest number of concussions seen in the emergency department due most often to falling and hitting their heads. Littleton Adventist Hospital features a Level II trauma center that is highly experienced in assessing and diagnosing traumatic brain injury in patients of all ages. If you or a loved one is diagnosed with a concussion, you will be treated by our concussion team which is led by a neuropsychologist. Services we provide for diagnosing and treating concussions include:

• Assessment and diagnosis in the emergency room or our outpatient concussion clinics
• Imaging to help confirm the severity of the concussion
• Personalized treatment plans that include physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, as needed
• Treatment and skill training to address memory changes, mood disturbances, and learning difficulties

Littleton Adventist Hospital is a national leader in advancements in deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s, essential tremor, dystonia, epilepsy and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Littleton neurosurgeons helped pioneer a procedure that allows patients to remain asleep (sedated) while the DBS leads are implanted in the section of the brain that initiates and controls tremors and other Parkinson’s symptoms. Our neurosurgery unit now performs more asleep DBS procedures than most centers worldwide.

Our neurosurgeons specializing in movement disorders provide deep brain stimulation for patients from throughout the metro Denver area, Colorado, and the entire Rocky Mountain region. They have become renowned for being among the first in the country to advance new technology in DBS. Those advancements include:

• Robotic-guided deep brain stimulation: Robotic surgery provides improved accuracy of the DBS lead placement, the most important aspect of DBS. The more accurate the lead placement, the better control over symptoms of movement disorders, like Parkinson’s disease.
• Directional DBS: Targeted therapy offers multiple contact points on the DBS lead, providing more options to direct stimulation to where it may be more effective immediately and over time.
• DBS Generator Programming: Our neurosurgeons have pioneered a two-step DBS procedure that means patients only need to come to the hospital twice instead of the normal three times. In addition, Littleton Adventist Hospital is one of the first sites in the United States to offer remote DBS generator programming. This capability allows our neurosurgeons to adjust the programming via a secure WiFi connection between the physician and patient programmer to better manage symptoms without requiring the patient to travel to Denver.