Epilepsy Care at Johns Hopkins
The Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins offers tailored treatment plans for all people with epilepsy, even those with the most challenging seizure disorders. Patients can benefit from treatments informed by recent research, including technologically advanced surgical options for seizures that do not respond to medication or diet.
Epilepsy Treatment: Why Choose Johns Hopkins
- The large number of patients we treat gives us unparalleled expertise in assessing and treating the full spectrum of epilepsy and seizure disorders.
- Johns Hopkins offers a First Seizure Clinic, Genetic Testing Clinic and a well-equipped Epilepsy Monitoring Unit to help diagnose seizures and epilepsy.
- Our team tailors each patient’s treatment plan with access to the most advanced medical, dietary and surgical therapies available.
- If you and your doctor decide that epilepsy surgery is right for you, we offer the most modern approaches, including laser interstitial thermal therapy (LiTT).
Epilepsy Assessment and Diagnosis
There are various types of seizure disorders, each characterized by different seizure patterns with symptoms causing changes in awareness, muscle tone, emotions, behavior and sensory experience. Proper treatment starts with a careful assessment, which may include:
- Medical and seizure history and neurological examination
- Neuroimaging: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), positron emission tomography (PET), functional MRI (fMRI)
- Electroencephalogram (EEG), including outpatient video-EEG monitoring and long-term video-EEG monitoring
- Neuropsychological, speech and hearing evaluations
Diagnostic Clinics
As part of the assessment or diagnosis our experts may recommend an evaluation with one of our specialty groups:
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First Seizure Clinic
The First Seizure Clinic helps people who recently had their first seizure determine what caused it and whether there is a risk of future seizures.
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Epilepsy Monitoring Units (EMUs)
An EMU is a specially designed unit where people can stay for a certain period to allow doctors to observe seizures in real time, which helps inform the treatment approach.
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Genetics Clinic
Genetic testing can offer valuable insights for people with a family history of seizures or those whose seizures have not responded to medications.
How We Treat Epilepsy
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Medications
Our doctors can identify the most appropriate medications and dosage to help bring seizures under control.
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Diet Therapy
Our center offers diet therapy for children and adults, using the ketogenic and modified Atkins diets.
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Surgery
Our experts are skilled in the latest surgical procedures, including minimally invasive surgical techniques and neurostimulation implants.
