Epilepsy and Seizures
When you or your loved one is facing epilepsy or a seizure disorder, you need care from specialists who can pinpoint where the seizures are coming from and deliver the latest, most effective treatments. At Atrium Health Neurosciences Institute, we’re here for you, whether you’ve just had your first seizure or have endured epilepsy for years.
With the highest level of accreditation from the National Association of Epilepsy Centers, we offer comprehensive care that includes advanced testing, leading-edge therapies and compassionate support. Our renowned experts will put their experience to work for you, designing a customized treatment plan that gives you the best chance of controlling your seizures and maximizing your quality of life.
Why choose Atrium Health Neurosciences Institute
- National recognition: We have Level 3 and Level 4 epilepsy centers for both adults and children, recognized by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers. This designation means we offer the highest level of care, including complex epilepsy monitoring and surgery.
- Expert team: We take a collaborative approach that ensures you receive the best treatment. Our team includes specially trained epileptologists, neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, patient navigators and other experienced providers.
- Proven experience: We treat all types of epilepsy and seizures, including refractory epilepsy that hasn’t responded to treatment before. And we offer one of the Southeast’s only First Seizure Clinics, specializing in care for people who’ve had one seizure and need to know why – without being admitted to the hospital.
- More treatments: We offer a wide range of effective epilepsy treatments, and we’re continually working to find more through innovative research. Our in-house clinical trials give you access to the most promising breakthrough therapies before they’re widely available.
- Convenient care options: In addition to our locations throughout Charlotte and Concord, we offer virtual clinics that allow you to connect with an epilepsy specialist from your neurologist’s office in Shelby or Lincolnton. In some cases, you can even have a face-to-face video visit with your provider without leaving home.
Testing and treatments
With extensive experience treating even the most challenging cases, plus access to all the latest technologies, our epilepsy experts are ready to guide you through care that’s personalized for your needs.
Testing
Our first step is to find out the cause of your seizures. We take time to get to know you, including your medical history and how your symptoms are affecting your life. And we use advanced testing to make sure you get the right diagnosis and most effective treatment.
Our leading-edge diagnostic tools include:
- Imaging: We use advanced neuroimaging technologies like MRI, PET and SPECT scans to take pictures of your brain and look for changes that cause epilepsy. Our imaging specialists have evaluated hundreds of cases, so they know exactly what to look for.
- Electroencephalogram (EEG): EEG is a safe and painless test that monitors your brain’s electrical activity using small discs (electrodes) attached to the scalp. Routine EEG monitoring can take as little as 30 minutes. When more information is needed, we can do prolonged EEG monitoring over a longer period, from a couple of hours to several days.
- Video EEG (VEEG): By recording video during EEG monitoring, we can capture exactly what happens when you experience a seizure. This type of testing is often completed in a specialized epilepsy monitoring unit at the hospital, but we also have technology that allows some patients to do VEEG monitoring from the comfort of home.
- Intracranial EEG (iEEG): During this procedure, our neurosurgeons place electrodes in or on the surface of your brain to pinpoint where seizures begin.
- Stereo-EEG (SEEG): We’re one of the Southeast’s first clinics to offer SEEG, a minimally invasive technique that’s helping us locate seizures’ origin in more epilepsy cases than ever.
- Brain mapping: We use brain mapping tests to precisely identify where your seizures start, as well as what parts of your brain are responsible for importation functions like movement and speech.
- Wada testing: If you’re considering epilepsy surgery, a Wada test may be used to find out how important each side of your brain is for memory and language function.
- Neuropsychological testing: Doctors evaluate your motor skills, memory and cognition to understand your brain function, and how epilepsy affects it.
Treatments
With the right treatment, it’s possible to stop seizures from happening. We offer the full range of advanced therapies, and our team of specialists will create a highly personalized epilepsy care plan just for you.
Our treatment options include:
- Epilepsy medication: Most seizures can be controlled by taking one or more medications. We have the expertise to help you find what will work best to control your seizures with minimal side effects.
- Dietary therapy: Certain diets, like the ketogenic (or keto) diet, may help reduce the frequency of your seizures. Our team of dietitians, nurses and physicians will help you find and follow the right nutritional plan for you.
- Epilepsy surgery: We complete comprehensive testing to pinpoint where your seizures start and determine the safest, most effective surgical option. Our surgeons are specially trained in minimally invasive epilepsy procedures using laser ablation, lobe resection and corpus callosotomy, among other surgeries. A state-of-the-art robotic system helps surgeons perform extremely precise operations to give you the best results.
- Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS): Neuromodulation devices like VNS are another option when seizures don’t respond to medication. VNS delivers electrical pulses that can prevent seizures. We’ve implanted hundreds of VNS devices, giving us the expertise to know when they’ll be most effective.
- Responsive neurostimulation (RNS): We’re leaders in using RNS, which is a neuromodulation device similar to a heart pacemaker. RNS continuously monitors your brain waves, and delivers small, precise pulses to stop seizure activity as soon as it begins.
- Deep brain stimulation (DBS): DBS is a type of neuromodulation therapy that involves placing electrodes in specific, deeper parts of the brain to help modify the abnormal brain activity causing your seizures. It’s effective for certain patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, and it’s a relatively low-risk procedure with a short hospital stay.
Support
Our goal isn’t just to treat your seizures – it’s to help you lead a fuller life. That’s why we provide ongoing support for your overall well-being. Our team can help you:
- Navigate your care with assistance scheduling appointments, understanding treatment options and finding community resources.
- Cope with mental health issues like depression, anxiety and fear of seizures.
- Transition smoothly from pediatric epilepsy care at Atrium Health Levine Children’s to our adult treatment program.
We also offer epilepsy self-management programs. Led by our epilepsy navigators, these programs are proven to improve quality of life by using cognitive behavioral therapy to address memory problems and enhance mental well-being.
Patient Resources
Below, you can find forms and information that will help you prepare for your next appointment. If you have any questions, please contact your provider’s office directly.
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New Patient Questionnaire (PDF)
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What to Know About Your EEG (PDF)
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