Specialty Centers > Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center

Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center

This is a multidisciplinary quaternary care center for diagnosis and treatment of people with epilepsy. The center has a large referral base and high clinical volume. Center faculty includes  5 neurologists, 2 neuropsychologists, 2 neurosurgeons, and 1 radiologist.  The center offers basic and advanced diagnostic testing and a full array of conventional and investigational medical and surgical treatments.  The surgical program is
among the largest in the US, performing 80-90 operations yearly. The center and its physicians have been recognized by Philadelphia magazine over the years as having faculty who are "best doctors" and providing "best care" for epilepsy in Philadelphia.

In addition to its outpatient facilities, the epilepsy center maintains an
inpatient video-EEG monitoring unit consisting of eight beds, each in a
specially outfitted private room, where 350-400 patients are admitted
yearly. Patients are evaluated for diagnostic reasons, presurgical
assessments, intracranial EEG recording, and management of uncontrolled
seizures.  The center is in the process of obtaining a magnetoencephalogram
(MEG) device as well.

Epilepsy center faculty play a significant role in teaching Neurology
residents and fellows, in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Residents
are taught all elements of patient diagnosis and seizure management,
interpretation of EEG and other neurophysiological tests, and mapping of
cortical function. Faculty conduct separate epilepsy management conferences
and clinical neurophysiology weekly conferences for resident and fellows.
In addition, the department organizes separate annual Neurology and Clinical
Neurophysiology courses.

Faculty members actively engage in research, with extramural funding from
the National Institutes of Health, private industry, and foundation sources.
Some projects are collaborative, conducted with other epilepsy centers in
the U.S. and Canda, while others are carried out solely at Jefferson.
Interested residents are encouraged to conduct research projects with center
faculty. In past years, housestaff have performed projects and published
peer-reviewed papers.  

Current faculty research interests include:

1. Clinical trials of antiepileptic drugs
2. Investigation of hormonal therapy for epilepsy
3. Investigation of predictors of success and prediction of outcomes after epilepsy surgery
4. Investigation of cardiac disturbances in epilepsy
5. Investigation of mortality in epilepsy
6. Investigation of bone health in epilepsy
7. Investigation of metabolic effects of antiepileptic drugs
8. Investigation of genetic susceptibility in epilepsy
9. Investigation of pharmacologic resistance to antiepileptic drugs
10. Use of functional MR imaging to assess cognitive and language
organization and reorganization in epilepsy
11. Use of diffusion tensor and functional connectivity MR imaging in
epilepsy
12. Investigation of neuropsychological defects in epilepsy
13. Planned studies to begin in the near future include deep brain
stimulation, magnetoencephalography in epilepsy.

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