Infant Hip Dysplasia: A Q&A With Dr. Todd Blumberg
Dr. Blumberg is an orthopedic surgeon who works with patients from infancy through young adulthood treating all hip conditions.
Using Comics to Teach Patients About Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Q&A With Dr. David L. Suskind
Dr. Suskind is a gastroenterologist at Seattle Children’s where he sees patients in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center and Aerodigestive Program. He is the director of quality improvement and co-chair of the Nutrition Subcommittee.
New Innovations in Fetal Care and Treatment: A Q&A With Drs. Mark Lewin, Bettina Paek and Martin Walker
Dr. Mark Lewin is division chief of Cardiology, co-director of the Heart Center and director of the Fetal Care and Treatment Center at Seattle Children’s, and chief of Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Dr. Bettina Paek and Dr. Martin Walker are co-directors of the new Maternal Fetal Intervention and Surgery Program at Seattle Children’s Fetal Care and Treatment Center. They previously worked together for 16 years in private practice at Eastside Maternal Fetal Medicine at Evergreen Health.
Kids, Sleep, and Mental Health in Today’s Pandemic: How Our New Expanded Sleep Center Helps More Kids: A Q&A With Dr. Maida Chen
Dr. Maida Lynn Chen
Dr. Chen is director of Sleep Medicine at Seattle Children’s.
What’s new at the Sleep Center?
In June we opened a bigger, better Sleep Center. Our new state-of-the-art facility has 12 sleep study suites and 6 exam rooms, up from 8 and 4, respectively. We’ve included the latest technology while still prioritizing families’ comfort. We also have significantly more staff now, which allows us to see a lot of children we couldn’t before.
Caring for the (Whole) Child With Cleft Lip and Palate: A Q&A With Dr. Kelly Evans
Dr. Evans is one of the pediatricians on the Craniofacial team at Seattle Children’s.
How common is cleft lip and palate?
Roughly 1 in 1,000 babies is born with cleft lip and/or palate. It’s one of the most common birth defects in the United States along with congenital heart defects, Down syndrome and spina bifida. The exact cause is often unknown, but researchers believe it’s usually a combination of genetic and other factors, for example, environmental factors.
Youth Mental Health: A Conversation With Dr. Jeff Ojemann About Seattle Children’s Generation REACH
Seattle Children’s bold new initiative to address the growing youth mental health crisis, called Generation REACH, makes a long-term commitment to youth mental and behavioral health as an inextricable part of child health. Dr. Jeff Ojemann talks more about what Generation REACH aspires to do and what it’s already accomplishing today.
The pandemic has exacerbated an existing mental health crisis. How is that showing up at Seattle Children’s?
Jeff Ojemann
Dr. Ojemann: We began seeing a large increase in mental health–related ED visits, particularly for suicidality, last summer and a huge increase in eating disorders. That was followed by reports in the fall of a 30% increase in the suicide rate among Seattle-area youth.
The Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine team responded to the increased demand with a quick pivot to telehealth for about 90% of visits, increased crisis clinic capacity and coordination with community EDs to help avoid inpatient admissions when possible. Read full post »
Small or Missing Ears: A Q&A on Microtia and Aural Atresia With Dr. Randall Bly
Dr. Randall Bly is an assistant professor of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery through the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the co-director of the Cranial Base Program at Seattle Children’s. With a background in mechanical engineering, he also serves as adjunct faculty through the UW College of Engineering. Bly leads a group of surgeon-scientists and engineers at the BioRobotics lab in designing cutting-edge innovations in surgery.
How common are microtia and aural atresia?
Randall Bly
Dr. Bly: Microtia is a small or absent ear. About 1 in 5,000 babies are born with it annually in the United States. In most cases, it is only on one side. Seventy percent of these children also lack an ear canal (called aural atresia).
We don’t know what causes microtia in most cases. Sometimes it’s genetic, but no specific gene has been identified. In some cases, it’s related to maternal diabetes during pregnancy, exposure to high doses of vitamin A, or a mother’s use of Accutane (isotretinoin) during pregnancy. Read full post »
An Improving Outlook for Babies With Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH): A Q&A With Dr. Rebecca Stark
Rebecca Stark
Rebecca Stark, MD, FACS, is a board-certified pediatric surgeon in the Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery at Seattle Children’s and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at UW. She is director of the Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Program and surgical co-director of the ECMO Program at Seattle Children’s.
What is CDH?
Dr. Stark: When a baby’s diaphragm doesn’t form completely before birth, it leaves a hole between their abdomen and chest. Organs that should grow in the belly go through the hole up into the chest. Babies with CDH have small lungs as a result, and the lung tissue itself is different. Babies with CDH may have serious breathing problems starting soon after birth, as well as a low blood pressure and elevated heart rate. Read full post »
Managing Epilepsy and Seizures: A Q&A With Dr. Rusty Novotny
Dr. Rusty Novotny is the director of Seattle Children’s Epilepsy Program.
How common is epilepsy?
Rusty Novotny
Dr. Novotny: About 0.6% of kids have active epilepsy. If you imagine an elementary school with 500 students, that’s about 3 kids.
The highest incidence of pediatric seizures is in the newborn period and then it drops dramatically; it’s lowest in adolescence and continues to gradually increase as a function of age. Febrile seizures (from fever) are most common in children between 6 months and 6 years old. We rarely see febrile seizures in kids over 6 years old in the absence of other underlying risk factors. This is great because it means that kids can “outgrow” the risk of a seizure recurrence with febrile seizures and certain types of seizures in epilepsy syndromes we see in children.
One in 10 people will have a seizure at some point in their life. Read full post »
“We Have Something Special Here:” A Q&A With the Heart Center’s Dr. David Mauchley
Dr. Mauchley is a cardiac surgeon. He joined Seattle Children’s Heart Center in February 2020.
What drew you to Seattle Children’s?
David Mauchley
Dr. Mauchley: I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in Moscow, Idaho, and went to medical school at the University of Washington. My wife is also from Washington state, and we met in medical school. We always hoped there would be an opportunity to move back to Seattle to be closer to family. Read full post »
