Seizures and epilepsy treatment

Allina Health offers the most comprehensive evaluation and treatment options for seizures and epilepsy. Our team includes fellowship-trained, board-certified epileptologists 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.  

We offer both outpatient and inpatient services, along with a suite of medical devices and surgical options to help control or stop your seizures.  

When you need to see a specialist about your seizures or epilepsy, we are just a phone call away. You might get a referral to visit us after an ER visit, or you might call us directly if you think you have had a seizure. We offer both outpatient and inpatient evaluations, depending on your situation. 

There are several tests that may help your seizure and epilepsy 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)  

• 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 goal is to help you stop your seizures or control them. Treatments may include:  

• medication  

• cognitive behavioral therapy for psychogenic, non-epileptic seizures 

• epilepsy monitoring unit / continuous EEG monitoring  

• neuromodulation devices 

• surgical intervention 

Medication is the first line of treatment for epilepsy, and it works for about 70 percent of people. 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.  

If you’re among the 30 percent of people with epilepsy who don’t respond well to medication, you may have what’s called refractory or hard-to-control epilepsy. You may need an implanted neuromodulation device, which can sense and stop 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 a new 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 a seizure before it occurs. It is invisible to the eye, the settings are adjustable, and the process is reversible. 

Our inpatient monitoring and surgery program is rated a best-in-class level 4 from the National Association of Epilepsy Centers. If your situation calls for it, epilepsy surgery can be dramatically effective at controlling or stopping seizures.  

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.  

• Re-sectioning of the brain: This surgery involves physically removing the section of the brain that is causing seizures.

Sometimes, outpatient visits can’t solve the problem, or first-line treatments don’t work.  Our expert team, combined with our comprehensive state-of-the-art inpatient treatment for brain tumors, epilepsy, physiological, and psychological non-epileptic seizures is fully equipped to help you.  

The National Association of Epilepsy Centers designated Abbott Northwestern Hospital as a level 4 epilepsy center—the highest possible—and United Hospital as a Level 3 center.  These prestigious designations are only awarded after we meet exacting criteria to ensure you are receiving the best seizure and epilepsy care possible, from high-tech tools to steady-handed surgery.  

Our inpatient visits offer long-term video-EEG monitoring units with 24-hour monitoring, which helps our expert team collect detailed information so we can develop a treatment plan that works specifically for you to get you feeling your best.  

Now that’s what we call brain power.