The Epilepsy Program at AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute Network
Whether you’re an adult living with epilepsy or have a child who faces this condition, you deserve specialized care, and you want a relationship with doctors you can trust for life.
The AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute Network's Epilepsy Program includes a designated Level 3 Epilepsy Center delivering innovative monitoring and epilepsy treatment options, so you can rest assured that you or your child will be in the best of hands.
We’re here to help you find the right physician or a location that’s convenient for you.
Epilepsy Expertise You Can Count On
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Awarded the Highest Designation in Epilepsy Care
We feature a Level 3 Epilepsy Center that serves both adults and children. We’re dedicated to providing patients with the highest level of quality care.
We’re proud to be Central Florida’s only Level 4 center for both adults and children, a recognition reserved for programs providing the highest level of quality and excellence.
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Specialized Care for Adults and Children
Our epilepsy patients benefit from a continuum of care through every phase of life. Our team represents more than 30 subspecialties, each committed to excellent care.
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Epilepsy Treatments That Work for You
Our epilepsy specialists will work with you to understand your needs and build a treatment plan to best meet your needs, from non-surgical care to minimally invasive procedures.
A Multidisciplinary Team, Dedicated to You
Epilepsy can affect so many aspects of your life. Our multidisciplinary approach brings together experts from a range of medical specialties to ensure we’re addressing your needs. Your care team may include:
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) technologists
- Neurologists (epileptologists)
- Neuropsychologists
- Neuroradiologists
- Neurosurgeons
- Occupational, physical and speech therapists
- Pathologists
- Patient care attendants
- Pharmacists
- Physician assistants, nurse practitioners and registered nurses
- Social workers
Whole-Person Epilepsy Care for All Ages
Customized Epilepsy Treatment Plans
Our expert team will create a step-by-step treatment plan designed specifically for you. After your initial visit, we will handle your medication needs and seizure control following the initial visit.
Best-in-Class Surgical Care
If you’re preparing for epilepsy surgery, we work with your neurologist before and after the procedure to monitor your health and assist with medication changes and refills, as well as problems with seizure control.
Non-Surgical Epilepsy Treatment Options
If surgery isn’t the right option for you, we’ll work to determine the right treatment options for your specific seizure disorder.
A seizure is a sign that something needs care, and our first step is to determine the cause of the seizure. Whether you’ve lived with epilepsy for years or it’s newly developed, we have the tools and expertise to pinpoint the cause of seizures and determine the best treatment.
We want you to live a seizure-free life. We’re here to help you find the treatment options that work for you, and to help monitor and manage your condition so you can focus on living your best life.
For our adult patients, treatment plans may include:
- Anti-seizure devices like NeuroPace RNS® and CURRY neuroimaging (EEG)
- Dietary changes
- Epilepsy medication
- Epilepsy surgery
Seeing your child experience epilepsy can trigger feelings of helplessness and fear. We seek to empower families by providing answers and guidance, as well as the assurance that comes with state-of-the-art technology and innovative treatment options.
Our all-digital, video electroencephalogram (EEG) makes it possible for our nurses, technicians and pediatric specialists to monitor your child’s seizure activity 24/7, in real time. This leads to a more accurate epilepsy diagnosis and more effective treatment.
Learn more about how we treat childhood epilepsy at AdventHealth for Children.
Tools and Techniques for Addressing Epilepsy
- Accurate Diagnosis
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Seizures aren’t always caused by epilepsy. Sometimes they’re brought on by other factors. At the AdventHealth, formerly Florida Hospital, Neuroscience Institute network, our multidisciplinary approach helps assess seizures from a variety of perspectives, so we can gain a precise understanding of your condition and make an accurate diagnosis.
Some of the ways we can assess your condition include:
- Blood Tests — To screen for genetic and metabolic disorders or conditions such as diabetes, anemia, infections and poisoning
- Brain Imaging — Computed tomography (CT scans), positron emission tomography (PET scans) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs)
- Electroencephalograms (EEGs) — To measure electrical activity in the brain and possibly reveal abnormalities
- MEG (Magnetoencephalography) — The first and only incisionless functional brain-imaging technology in the state of Florida
- Medical History — To see if seizures have occurred before and assess symptoms
- Neurological Testing — Measuring intellectual capability, reflexes, motor skills and behavior
- Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) – To show areas of increased brain activity (seizures) related to increased blood flow to these areas.
- WADA test — also known as the intracarotid sodium amobarbital (ISAP) procedure — To provide information regarding seizure focus proximity to key language or memory areas.
- Cortical Mapping – To help the team relate seizure location to your key motor, speech or sensory areas.
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) – To help determine if brain tissue, in the area of seizure focus, can be removed safely without affecting your ability to move your limbs, use language or obtain sensory input.
Other tests for epilepsy include kidney and liver function tests and an examination of spinal fluid. Whatever your special case requires, our experts will personalize a diagnostic and treatment plan for you to move beyond seizures toward whole-person health.
- Common Conditions We Treat
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Because epilepsy is a neurological disease that affects different people in different ways — and because there are 300 kinds of epilepsy — it can be difficult to diagnose and treat. However, you can count on our team to find answers for you and the best treatments for your unique needs.
Our experienced team treats a variety of conditions and types of epilepsy, including:
- Arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
- Cavernous hemangioma
- Drug-resistant epilepsy
- Genetic epilepsy
- Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
- New-onset seizures
- Tuberous sclerosis (TSC)
- Tumor-related epilepsy
- Procedures Offered
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- Stereotactic EEG – This option may be offered if you have intractable focal epilepsy, but the location of seizure onset is uncertain—either the side of seizure onset cannot be identified or the location of seizure onset within a hemisphere cannot be identified.
- Robotic Assisted Stereotaxic Surgery (ROSA) – It is a robot surgical assistant which acts as a GPS for the doctors to use during surgery to only remove tissue in the precise spot where seizures begin.
- Laser surgery (LITT) – Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy, or LITT, does require surgery, but it uses a much smaller incision than typical brain surgery.
- Intraoperative MRI – This advanced medical imaging improves surgical outcomes by allowing images to be taken while you are still in the operating room. Thanks to this technology, we ensure the surgery has been successful, minimizing the potential need for a second operation and reducing exposure to radiation in our state-of-the-art neurological suites.
- Responsive neurostimulator – involves the implantation of a small neurostimulator connected to leads (tiny wires) that are placed in one or two seizure onset areas to prevent seizures from happening.
- Vagal Nerve Stimulator (VNS) – Surgical placement of a device around the vagus nerve in the neck that helps to control seizures.
Epilepsy Experts at Your Side
Managing epilepsy can be a challenge. But having the right team in place can make it easier. Our epilepsy specialists offer care that addresses every aspect of your health, ensuring that you can live confidently and feel whole.
ABRET Accredited
Our EEG Lab has been accredited by ABRET, which encourages and promotes quality technical and clinical standards world-wide for neurodiagnostic laboratories through certification and accreditation. We are the only lab certified in Central Florida for both adults and children.
Working Together for You
Find peace of mind knowing that we partner with other leading organizations. We’re working with local, regional and national leaders to reimagine neurological epilepsy treatment to give you even more resources and confidence in your care.
Find Us in Your Community
Across our AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute network, each of our locations shares the same commitment to innovation, expertise and a whole-person approach. Explore your options for care close to home with the guidance of our dedicated team. We’ll help you find the right fit, so you’re in the best setting to get the care you need.