Cleveland Clinic's Adult Epilepsy Program is one of the leading adult epilepsy programs in the world. The staff of the Section of Adult Epilepsy includes eight board-certified epileptologists, two epilepsy neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, clinical neurophysiologists, neuropsychologists, and a dedicated team of nurses, nursing assistants and EEG technologists. Facilities include a self-contained, ten-bed Adult Epilepsy Monitoring Unit located at the main Cleveland Clinic campus, and featuring state-of-the-art, all-digital video-EEG equipment. The Adult Epilepsy Unit operates 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Staffed by experienced nurses and EEG technologists specializing in adult epilepsy, the unit is overseen by our dedicated team of epileptologists.
Our internationally renowned team of physicians and medical professionals provides a comprehensive approach to the diagnosis and management of seizure disorders in adults and seniors. Each year, our team sees more than 3,500 patients, ages 18 years and older, in our epilepsy outpatient clinics, and evaluates more than 350 patients in our dedicated state-of-the-art Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. More than 100 adult patients with medication-resistant epilepsy undergo surgical procedures annually; making the Cleveland Clinic’s Surgical Epilepsy program, one of the foremost programs of its kind in the world. Cleveland Clinic was one of the first medical centers in the country to perform intracranial brain mapping in patients with epilepsy using electrical stimulation. Advancements of this technique using three-dimensional computer images of the brain now help our physicians to determine the precise location of the seizure focus and its relation to the functional areas of the patient’s brain.
Other special services for patients with epilepsy include sophisticated neuroimaging with advanced high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), ictal single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT)
, positron emission tomography (PET)
, and magnetoencephalography (MEG). In addition novel treatments with the use of investigational antiepileptic drugs and devices are available through numerous ongoing clinical trials.
Women With Epilepsy
Epilepsy affects approximately one percent of the population, and more than half of individuals with epilepsy are women. It is estimated that in the United States alone, more than one million women of childbearing age experience seizure disorders. Epilepsy and seizure medications may affect contraception, pregnancy, hormone levels, and the female reproductive cycle. Our adult epilepsy staff has the expertise to address the complexities of seizure management in women with epilepsy.
Epilepsy in the Elderly
Seizures are very common among the elderly. It is estimated that more than 60,000 new cases of epilepsy occur every year in Americans over 65 years of age. In fact the elderly represent the most rapidly growing population group with epilepsy. Common causes include after-effects of stroke or cardio-vascular events, tumors and degenerative disorders. Diagnosing epilepsy in the elderly can be difficult, because the manifestations of seizures can be subtle or unusual. Epilepsy in this age group increases the risk of falls, trauma and other complications, and may lead to loss of independence. Yet, epilepsy in the elderly is usually quite treatable when properly recognized and managed. In fact, most of our senior patients with epilepsy respond well to antiepileptic drugs, which are often prescribed in low doses. Our team of physicians has gained many years of expertise in the identification and treatment of seizures in the elderly.
Lastly, the staff of the Section of Adult Epilepsy performs clinical and translational research to improve our understanding and treatment of epilepsy, and to train world-class academic epileptologists, clinical neurophysiologists, educators, and researchers.
Click here for details on current/ongoing research work.
Adult Epilepsy Section Staff
