Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke Center

The Cerebrovascular Disease Center cares for more than 200 children and adolescents each year and is part of one of the Top 5 pediatric hospital in the U.S. Several national organizations also recognize Cincinnati Children’s as a Center of Excellence for cerebrovascular care, including the Angioma Alliance, the Sturge-Weber Foundation and Cure HHT.

Our physicians provide consultations and second opinions for doctors around the world who are caring for children with complex cerebrovascular needs. A second opinion from our team can reassure families that their child is receiving the best possible care. It can also offer insights about other treatment options available at Cincinnati Children’s.

Integrated, Team-based Care

Many families whose children have a cerebrovascular condition come to our center for treatment. As a result, we have a lot of experience and expertise in this area of medicine. Our team includes specialists from pediatric neurosurgery, neurology, radiology, interventional neuroradiology, hematology/oncology, radiation oncology, genetics and behavioral medicine.

Our dedicated cerebrovascular team provides one-stop care. We offer a centralized clinic location where patients can see many specialists during a single appointment. This means that patients — even those who need care from several providers — do not get “bounced around” from appointment to appointment.

Our specialists work closely with one another from the time of diagnosis through treatment and recovery to ensure well-coordinated, high-quality care. We provide detailed reports to referring physicians to keep them informed. Our goal is for patients to return to their hometown provider as soon as possible. Find out more about the services we offer out-of-state patients to make your stay more comfortable.

Pediatric Surgery Expertise

Sudhakar Vadivelu, DO, Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke Center director, is a fellowship-trained pediatric endovascular neurosurgeon. He specializes in open and endovascular cerebrovascular surgery. Endovascular surgery is minimally invasive, which means it offers less scarring, less blood loss and a shorter recovery time than traditional open surgeries.

No matter what kind of cerebrovascular surgery is best for your child, Vadivelu can do it safely and skillfully. He performs complex surgeries typically not offered in other pediatric hospitals, such as direct revascularization for Moyamoya disease.

Advanced Therapies That Are Not Widely Available

The Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke Center provides a full range of therapies for children with vascular conditions of the brain and spine. Examples include:

• Endovascular procedures, such as embolization and stent placement
• Specialized surgeries such as direct arterial bypass, minimally invasive resection and laser ablative techniques
• Deep brain stimulation, which can help children with dystonia (tremors). This minimally invasive procedure involves placing a stimulation electrode on abnormal brain tissue to control tremors and improve movement
• Pediatric stereotactic radiosurgery, which delivers precise doses of targeted radiation to vascular lesions

Vadivelu works closely with other pediatric specialists to provide expert care for children with tumors of the head, neck and spine. Treatment options include:

• Intra-arterial chemotherapy, which targets high doses of chemotherapy directly to tumors. This protects healthy tissue. The therapy is sometimes used before, after or instead of traditional chemotherapy
• Stereotactic radiosurgery, which is a nonsurgical therapy that can deliver targeted radiation in fewer high-dose treatments than traditional radiation therapy. This can help preserve healthy tissue

Learn more about the innovative treatments we offer.

Innovative Imaging That Delivers Less Radiation

Angiography is an imaging technique used during endovascular surgical procedures. It creates highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the arteries and blood vessels in the brain. This improves accuracy and surgical outcomes. Cincinnati Children’s is one of the few children’s hospitals in the United States offering angiography during surgery. The angiography technology we use helps reduce the need for contrast agents. It lowers radiation exposure by more than 30 percent.

In addition, our neuroradiology, neurosurgery, neurology and critical care teams are working together to expand the center’s use of neurovascular ultrasound. This technology doesn’t use any radiation.

Our team does basic and clinical research studies, often collaborating with other medical centers to pursue new testing and treatment methods.

Conditions Treated

The Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke Center at Cincinnati Children’s treats all vascular diseases of the brain and spine.

Learn more about the conditions we treat.

Second Opinion Service

A second opinion from our team can reassure families that their child is receiving the best possible care – or offer insights about other treatment options available at Cincinnati Children’s.