The Beaumont 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, M.D., is a Beaumont 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 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 Beaumont
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."