BOB体育

If you鈥檙e undergoing invasive EEG monitoring, you鈥檒l be jointly managed by the epilepsy faculty, critical care faculty and the neurosurgery service in the Neurointensive Care Unit on the 4th floor of the hospital.

Neurodiagnostic Services

Neurodiagnostic operations are fully integrated into our bright and airy workspace at the BOB体育 Neuromedicine Hospital. The outpatient electroencephalogram (EEG) lab performs routine EEGs, multi-day ambulatory EEGs, short (6-hour) video EEGs, evoked potentials and PET-EEGs. The inpatient EEG service performs long-term and critical care EEG monitoring (LT/CCEM) across the entire BOB体育 hospital system, in addition to serving the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU).

A transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) service was inaugurated in July 2020 for brain mapping. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a planned addition within the next year. These facilities will make BOB体育 neurodiagnostics among the most comprehensive clinical neurophysiology services anywhere in the nation.

Epilepsy Surgery

The majority of epilepsy patients achieve adequate seizure control with the use of anticonvulsant medications (or antiepileptic drugs, AEDs). However, a substantial minority (about 30%) of patients continue to experience disabling seizures despite adequate trials of AEDs. As the 3rd-most populated state in the country, there are an estimated 20,000 patients with surgically remedial epilepsy in Florida, and that鈥檚 why we have highly experienced surgeons equipped to treat your epilepsy.

The epilepsy surgery program at the University of Florida began in 1992, and since then, we have performed over 1,500 surgical procedures for epilepsy. Today, our epilepsy surgery team combines a substantial historical experience with adoption of the emerging technologies of stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG), minimally invasive approaches (laser ablation therapy) to offer a truly comprehensive treatment approach tailored to yo

The specialists at the UFCEP are experts in performing all the latest surgical techniques to treat epilepsy and seizure disorders. Using advanced stereotactic technology to pinpoint the location of the epileptic lesion, these procedures aim to remove the smallest possible amount of brain tissue to achieve control or to decrease the frequency and/or severity of seizures.

They include the following procedures:

• Anterior temporal lobectomy
• Extratemporal resections
• Hemispherectomy
• Lesionectomy
• Corpus callosotomy
• Vagus nerve stimulation

To learn more about surgical treatment of epilepsy, download our brochure.

Epilepsy Medication

Nonsurgical approaches are the first line of treatment for epilepsy. The UFCEP offers the latest antiepileptic medications as well as experimental antiepileptic medications as part of research trials. The ketogenic diet program, a physician-monitored diet approach, may also be offered, especially for younger patients who do not respond to medications.

• Common and rare AED side effects
• Drugs that may lower seizure threshold
• Ketogenic diet

Neuromodulation 鈥� VNS, DBS & RNS

Neuromodulation is a rapidly evolving method of controlling seizures and is the process by which certain brain areas are activated electrically so that they may influence other brain areas to reduce your tendency for seizures. The science behind neuromodulation remains incompletely understood, but the positive effect on seizures can be significant.

The first neuromodulatory treatment to be FDA-approved was vagal nerve stimulation (VNS). The University of Florida was part of the early trials for VNS, and we have a large population of patients with VNS currently under our care. However, in recent years, RNS (responsive neurostimulation) and DBS (deep brain stimulation) have been approved for use in selected patient populations.

Complementary Therapies

Complementary therapies are alternative treatments for epilepsy that are neither drug-based or involve surgery, but consist of modifications of lifestyle, diet or other body systems and functions. If you鈥檙e suffering from epilepsy, experience has shown that many such treatments can help decrease the frequency and severity of your seizures, and they can improve your quality of life.

For instance, the is a dietary therapy to reduce seizures. Carbohydrates are reduced and the calories are replaced with fat. PKT requires a very precise and personalized dietary prescription, involving a significant commitment on the part of the patients or caregivers.

For more info about dietary therapies for epilepsy, ask your epilepsy doctor. Health care providers wishing to make a direct referral for PKT, please contact Peggy Borum, PhD.

Hormonal treatments are another alternative treatment for female patients of childbearing age with epilepsy. If you are a woman with epilepsy, your doctor will probably mention the effects of hormones and the menstrual cycle on seizures during your visit. Please feel free to bring up the discussion directly as well.

Outpatient Services

We treat over 5,000 patients from North and Central Florida, as well as patients from all over Florida and the southern United States. Whether you鈥檙e suspected to have seizures or a new patient coming off your first suspected seizure or a patient with a longer history whose seizures remain difficult to manage, we offer expert evaluation to identify the problem.

For new patients, you don鈥檛 have to wait two weeks, and urgent patients are usually seen sooner. Plus, the evaluation of your seizure disorder will be detailed and unhurried. Once you are a patient, you will always have access to our staff through our phone lines and the patient portal of our electronic medical record system

Inpatient Services

Inpatient services essentially revolve around hospitalized patients undergoing continuous EEG monitoring of some type. The service is staffed by faculty members and a variable number of residents and fellows. If you鈥檙e an epilepsy patient specifically admitted for diagnosis or presurgical workup of refractory epilepsy, the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) is a unit of the BOB体育 Neuromedicine Hospital specifically dedicated to serving you

If you鈥檙e undergoing invasive EEG monitoring, you鈥檒l be jointly managed by the epilepsy faculty, critical care faculty and the neurosurgery service in the Neurointensive Care Unit on the 4th floor of the hospital.