Epilepsy and seizure care

Allina Health offers the most comprehensive evaluation and treatment options for epilepsy and seizures, on both an outpatient and inpatient basis, along with a suite of medications, medical devices and surgical options to help control and, ideally, stop your seizures.

Our Allina Health outpatient team includes three fellowship-trained, board-certified epileptologists, a nurse practitioner, and an RN nurse navigator who helps coordinate your care, teaches you about your condition and medications, and connects you with any other professionals or resources you may need. Some of the other interdisciplinary care team members include a social worker, nutritionist, rehab psychologist, neuropsychologist, and rehabilitation therapists through our Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute.

This robust inpatient epilepsy care is available at our three metro hospital locations, which include Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Mercy Hospital, and United Hospital. We also partner with the Minnesota Epilepsy Group, which allows us to offer conventional EEGs, inpatient monitoring, and oversee your care with skilled providers.

Allina Health is proud to provide prestigious Level 3 and Level 4 epilepsy center care—we’re one of three adult epilepsy centers in the entire state of Minnesota.

Before we can treat your condition, it is important to understand what we mean by epilepsy and seizures.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder diagnosed when a person has recurring, unprovoked seizures. An unprovoked seizure isn’t caused by a temporary issue, such as low blood sugar or alcohol withdrawal. A variety of things could cause epilepsy, from genetic predisposition to infection.

A seizure is typically defined as a brief disruption in normal brain activity due to a sudden, temporary burst of electrical activity that disrupts communication between brain cells. It can lead to loss of consciousness, unusual sensations, movements, or behaviors.  But there are different types of seizures, and not all seizures are electrical or epileptic in nature. For example, psychogenic nonepileptic seizures are psychological, rather than electrical, in nature. Seizures are temporary but may signal an underlying problem.

When you need to see a specialist about your epilepsy or seizures, we are just a phone call away. You might get a referral to see us after a visit to the Emergency Department for a new seizure, or your primary care physician or another neurologist may refer you if your symptoms need more specialized management.

There are several tests that may help your epilepsy and seizure doctor determine whether you have had a seizure and if you need treatment. Your assessment may include:

• Medical history and intake paperwork
• Neurological exam
• Electroencephalogram (EEG) 
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Other neuroimaging: Magnetoencephalography or magnetic source imaging (MEG or MSI), positron emission tomography (PET), stereo electroencephalography (SEEG), and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)

Our team of experts will work to help you control your seizures as much as possible with the ultimate goal of stopping them. Treatments may include:

• medication
• cognitive behavioral therapy for psychogenic, non-epileptic seizures
• epilepsy monitoring unit / continuous EEG monitoring 
• neuromodulation devices
• surgical intervention

Anti-seizure medications

Medication is the first line of treatment for epilepsy, and it works for about 70% of people, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Medications for epilepsy are usually referred to as anticonvulsant medications, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), or anti-seizure medications. They can help control seizures or prevent them from happening, but they do not cure or correct what is causing them.

Neuromodulation devices

If you’re among the 30% of people with epilepsy who don’t respond well to medication, you may have what’s called refractory or hard-to-control epilepsy, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Our epilepsy doctors may recommend an implanted neuromodulation device, which may help manage your seizures.

• Vagus nerve stimulation: We implant a small device in your chest and neck, which works by sending regular, mild electrical pulses to the vagus nerve; this helps prevent or lessen seizures. No brain surgery is involved.
• Responsive neurostimulation: Responsive neurostimulation is an additional approach to treating uncontrolled seizures. Our epilepsy doctors implant the device in your skull. When the device senses abnormal brain activity, it delivers a mild electrical stimulus to disrupt the seizures. It is invisible to the eye, the settings are adjustable, and the process is reversible.
• Deep brain stimulation: A thin wire is surgically placed deep in the brain, connected to a battery in your chest. The battery supplies electricity through the wires into your brain at a very low level and is adjusted specifically to treat symptoms.

Top-ranked epilepsy surgery

If your situation calls for it, epilepsy surgery can be dramatically effective at controlling or stopping seizures. We offer top-rated epilepsy monitoring and investigation to determine the best option, and our offerings are verified by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers.

These epilepsy surgeries could include:

• Laser ablation surgery: This minimally invasive procedure involves using a laser to target and remove the area of the brain that is causing seizures.
• Resecting the brain: This surgery involves physically removing the section of the brain that is causing seizures.

Sometimes, we are not able to control seizures with oral medications alone, and to effectively treat them we need to learn more about your case. In this situation, we may recommend an elective admission into our Level 4 comprehensive epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

The EMU visit typically lasts several days. We set you up with continuous video EEG monitoring so that our highly trained multidisciplinary team can locate and watch seizure activity safely to help determine seizure location, type, activity, and, potentially, cause.

This detailed data helps us determine the best path forward for treating your seizures or epilepsy. The treatment plan may include adjusting medications, using a neuromodulation device, or undergoing brain surgery, along with considerations for diet, mental health, and more.

It’s a deep look into your own brain with highly skilled professionals who will provide in-depth insight into your inner workings, which will help put you on the path to better health.

When it comes to neurological care, we deliver only the best.  

Allina Health is proud to achieve top designations by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC). No matter where you turn for epilepsy care at Allina Health, we have the interdisciplinary team and resources to help you manage your seizures or epilepsy.

These prestigious designations are only awarded after we meet exacting criteria to help ensure you are receiving the best, most thorough care, from high-tech tools to steady-handed surgery. Nationwide, there are approximately 300 designated epilepsy care centers, and Allina Health makes up two of the three adult epilepsy centers in the Twin Cities.

The NAEC designated United Hospital as a Level 3 center, the second-highest rating it offers, and Abbott Northwestern Hospital as a Level 4 epilepsy center—the highest possible rating for treating the most complex refractory epilepsy and seizure cases. We take great pride in both prestigious designations, and what they represent, which is comprehensive excellence for our providers and patients.

Level 3 Centers: The NAEC qualifies Level 3 centers based on a broad range of criteria, including diagnosing, evaluating, and carrying out a detailed range of treatments and services that help people control refractory epilepsy. This is the second highest designation level that the NAEC offers.

Level 4 Centers: The NAEC provides a Level 4 designation to centers that provide the highest, most complex forms of diagnosing, evaluating, and monitoring, leading to more extensive and detailed treatments and surgical interventions for refractory epilepsy, among other conditions. Our Level 4 center, which is the top rating the NAEC bestows, offers the most complex surgical procedures for epilepsy, including implanting neuromodulatory devices.

Now that’s what we call brain power.