Overview
The skilled experts in the Epilepsy Center at Cleveland Clinic in Florida provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art care for all types of seizures. We are a Level IV epilepsy center, the highest designation available with the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC). This Level IV distinction means we provide the highest medical and surgical evaluation and treatment for epilepsy.
Our team fully integrates with the Epilepsy Center at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, one of the most advanced epilepsy treatment centers in the world. This joint program between Ohio and Florida offers the world’s largest, most comprehensive epilepsy program. In our Florida center, you have access to a wide range of effective treatment options designed to help you achieve freedom from seizures.
Epilepsy Center: Why Choose Cleveland Clinic in Florida
When you choose our Epilepsy Center, you benefit from:
- Team-based care: Our multispecialty team includes neurologists specializing in epilepsy (epileptologists), neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians. The team regularly reviews your needs and discusses treatment options. These experts work together to create a treatment plan personalized to you. Meet our team.
- Collaboration among experts: Our specialists hold remote meetings with the epilepsy experts at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who run the largest epilepsy surgery center in the country. When you receive care at Cleveland Clinic in Florida, a vast team of experts contributes to your treatment.
- State-of-the-art tools and technology: You have access to state-of-the-art tools and treatments, including 3-Tesla (3T) and 7-Tesla (7T) MRIs, which offer the highest quality brain images. We also use the ROSA robot, which allows for precise, minimally invasive epilepsy surgery.
- Care coordination: Our nurse coordinators help schedule all your tests and appointments. They help ensure that your appointments are scheduled as efficiently as possible so you receive convenient, timely care.
- Research and clinical trials: Our epileptologists engage in research and clinical trials to discover and bring you new and promising treatment options. We publish and analyze our outcomes to continually improve our care.
Epilepsy Diagnosis
The first step in effective epilepsy treatment is an accurate diagnosis. We use advanced technology and tools to help us diagnose epilepsy, including:
- 3T and 7T MRIs to create exceptionally detailed images of your brain and blood vessels.
- Electroencephalograms (EEGs) to measure your brain’s electrical signals and activity.
- Functional MRIs to analyze blood flow and map your brain’s language and motor functions.
- Magnetoencephalography (MEG test) to evaluate brain activity.
- Neuropsychological testing to assess your language skills, memory and cognitive function.
- Positron emission tomography (PET scan) to measure brain metabolism and identify potential irregularities.
- Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to help us pinpoint where seizures start in your brain.
Epilepsy monitoring unit
You may visit our state-of-the-art Epilepsy Monitoring Unit during diagnosis and evaluation. There, you stay in a comfortable, private room and undergo EEG testing and video monitoring. Our epileptologists, specially trained technicians and nurses monitor you throughout your stay.
The Epilepsy Monitoring Unit allows us to offer detailed epilepsy evaluations 24 hours a day. Your provider may order a stay in the unit to:
- Confirm an epilepsy diagnosis.
- Classify the epilepsy type.
- Diagnose seizures that aren’t epilepsy.
- Evaluate and adjust your anti-seizure medications.
- Perform a presurgical evaluation.
Epilepsy Treatment
In epilepsy treatment, our goal is to help you stop experiencing seizures and improve your quality of life. Your plan may include:
- Anti-seizure medications: Medication effectively controls seizures most of the time. These medicines stabilize the electrical activity in your brain that leads to seizures. We can help you choose the most appropriate medication. The goal is to help you become seizure-free with no side effects.
- Epilepsy surgery: Around one-third of people with epilepsy find that medications don’t effectively control seizures. Surgery may be a safe and effective treatment for select patients. We perform thorough evaluations and work with our colleagues at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio to decide if surgery is right for you. We use leading-edge surgical techniques, including minimally invasive options, to offer you the most effective treatment.
- Neuromodulation: Neuromodulation may be a treatment option when anti-seizure medications aren’t effective and surgery isn’t appropriate. We may offer vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) using an implantable device to stimulate the vagus nerve and control seizures. We also offer responsive neurostimulation (RNS), using an implantable device and small wires to stop seizures before they begin.
- Stereotactic robotic treatment: Our stereotactic robot, the ROSA, is a state-of-the-art tool that improves precision and accuracy when placing electrodes in the brain. We may place these electrodes during epilepsy monitoring or implant them for RNS. The ROSA can also help us destroy (ablate) lesions or tumors in your brain that are causing epilepsy.
Clinical Trials for Epilepsy
Our epilepsy team, along with researchers at our Florida Research and Innovation Center, lead clinical trials and study the newest advances in seizure treatment. Talk to your doctor to see if you may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial.
Appointments & Locations
Make an appointment at a Cleveland Clinic location in Florida, or schedule a virtual visit.
