A new Center for Functional Neurological Disorders in Children, the first of its kind in the Czech Republic, is in operation at the Department of Pediatric Neurology at Brno University Hospital (FN Brno).
The centre specialises primarily in paediatric patients with functional movement disorders or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, but also offers care to patients with other diagnoses from the spectrum of functional neurological disorders. Fortunately, these conditions are rare; the centre registers a few dozen patients each year.
The centre consists of a multidisciplinary team that includes child neurologists, clinical child psychologists, child psychiatrists, and also physiotherapists, who are key in the diagnosis and care of the patient. The centre also works with other paediatric specialists, especially in rheumatology, gastroenterology, outpatient pain treatment, speech therapy, ENT, surgery, and others. The involvement of other specialists will always depend on the specific symptoms of the patient. The centre also cooperates closely with the VFN Neurological Clinic in Prague.
The centre takes patients in the hospital’s catchment area, as well as patients from across the Czech Republic and Slovakia who require its specialist care, and patients referred from other specialist centres. The facility is currently providing multidisciplinary care to 80-100 patients.
“More than two years ago, FN Brno established a strategy for the development of existing expertise with an emphasis on highly specialized diagnosis and treatment of conditions which are often unique or rare within the region, but also the entire country,” said the director of FN Brno, Dr. Ivo Rovný. “In addition, it should be added that the FN Brno Children’s Hospital is the only healthcare facility designed in this way in the Czech Republic. The creation of the new centre is another proof of the fulfillment of this concept.”
“The cause of functional neurological disorders does not have to be connected to some psychological trauma or psychiatric illness, as has been generally believed for a long time,” said Dr. Pavlína Danhofer, the head of the Department of Pediatric Neurology. “Today we already know that a large number of patients do not have a psychiatric diagnosis and may not even have any psychological problems. The disease can be triggered by a banal injury or infection.”
