The mission of the Epilepsy Clinic is to provide inpatient and outpatient evaluation and treatment of patients with epilepsy, as well as screening patients for participation in ongoing epilepsy-related protocols within the NIH Intramural Program. The primary focus is on patients with poorly controlled or drug resistant seizures. For most patients with recurrent seizures, medications are the first-line treatment. However, sometimes seizures continue despite taking multiple medications. In these cases, epilepsy can significantly worsen a person’s quality of life. Frequent problems include seizure-related injuries, inability to drive, depression, cognitive problems, or medication side effects such as sleepiness, dizziness or irritability. When seizures are not able to be controlled with medications, surgery may be an option. Although seizure control is the primary goal, brain surgery for epilepsy may also prevent seizure-related injuries and death, and may also help to reduce medication side effects if the doses or number of medications can be lowered.
The NINDS Epilepsy Clinic offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient diagnostic testing services for epilepsy, either to confirm the diagnosis of epilepsy or to localize where seizures are coming from in the brain. This comprehensive evaluation includes a history and physical examination by one of our epilepsy specialists, and may include routine and/or long term video-EEG monitoring, advanced imaging with structural and functional MRI, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Magnetoencephalography (MEG), as well as neuropsychological testing. We also provide intracranial EEG monitoring and surgical treatment when needed. Physical therapy, social work, and consultations with other medical specialists are also available.
The Clinic supports multiple ongoing research protocols that focus on offering novel diagnostic testing and medical therapies, providing surgical evaluation and treatment, and furthering our understanding of epilepsy and cognition. The epilepsy clinic is also dedicated to training the next generation of clinician-scientists in the clinical diagnosis and management of epilepsy. There are no costs for participation or any tests associated with this research. We are happy to provide independent evaluations or to work with your local physicians to coordinate your ongoing care.
If you are a patient interested in treatments for epilepsy or in participating in one of our research studies, please contact:
Aaliyah H. Thiam, MS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Bldg. 10, CRC, Rm. 7-5680 SW
10 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892
Phone: 301-435-2952
Fax: 301-402-8796
Email: epilepsy@nih.gov or Aaliyah.HamidullahThiam@nih.gov
OR
Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office toll-free at:
1-800-411-1222
TTY: 1-866-411-1010
Epilepsy Clinic Research Team at NIH:
