The Corewell Health Children's Headache Center offers comprehensive, specialized care for children and adolescents who experience headaches.
The Royal Oak-based center's medical director, Elizabeth Leleszi, MD, is a Corewell Health Children's pediatric neurologist and an assistant professor at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.
According to the National Headache Foundation, about 20 percent of school-age children in the U.S. have headaches. There are multiple types of headaches in children. Fifteen percent of children experience tension-type headaches, and 5 percent experience migraine headaches.
Says Dr. Leleszi, "Head pain is a common symptom affecting kids. Children and teens may experience many different headache types, and the problem can, in some cases, be debilitating. Patients and families are often frustrated; children sometimes experience chronic pain, often missing school and extracurricular activities. Our center utilizes a team approach in implementing a care plan for each patient."
The clinic team is comprised of pediatric specialists from neurology, physical therapy, psychology, dietary, and social work. The Corewell Health Children's Headache Center also offers family-centered, comprehensive, specialized care, including advanced diagnostic testing, neuroimaging such as MRI, and an on-site laboratory.
"The initial focus is a comprehensive evaluation by a pediatric neurologist," explains Dr. Leleszi. "Using headache diagnostic criteria, combined with a patient history and neurological exam, a pain management plan is developed to decrease the frequency and severity of the headaches."