06/05/2026
Children’s Nebraska recently became the first hospital in the state to perform stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG)-guided radiofrequency ablation at the bedside, introducing a minimally invasive treatment option to improve the lives of children with drug-resistant epilepsy.
sEEG is an advanced technique in which thin electrodes are implanted into targeted brain regions with robotic guidance. The electrodes allow physicians to record seizures directly from within the brain and perform functional mapping to better understand the relationship between seizure activity and essential brain functions. With the addition of radiofrequency ablation, the same electrodes can now be used for both diagnosis and treatment. The procedure is brief and may eliminate a patient’s need for additional surgeries.
The first procedure in the state was a life-changing team effort, performed by pediatric neurosurgeon and surgical director of epilepsy Afshin Salehi, MD, MS. Dr. Salehi co-founded the hospital’s surgical epilepsy program with epileptologist Spriha Pavuluri, MD, and division chief of Pediatric Neurology Sookyong Koh, MD, PhD. Epilepsy medical director Oleg Lobanov, MD, PhD, coordinated efforts between Children’s Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) and provided real-time interpretation of data during the ablation.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Meena Vessel, MD, and neurologists Daniel Kashima, MD, and Samantha Parkhurst, MD, also collaborated on the case and interpreted findings. Melody Wolff, 3D Lab specialist, helped with the virtual reality rendition of the case, helping the team visualize the ablation in the lab before the actual procedure at the bedside. The effort also involved collaboration with the Hospital Medicine, EMU and nursing teams.
