Epilepsy care at Mayo Clinic
Your Mayo Clinic care team
Teamwork
Mayo Clinic experts in epilepsy care work together to provide individualized care to each patient.
Mayo Clinic's world-renowned epilepsy teams include neurologists, neurosurgeons, imaging specialists (radiologists), mental health specialists (neuropsychologists) and other professionals who work together to provide exactly the care you need.
Having all of this subspecialized expertise in a single place, focused on you, means that you're not just getting one opinion — your care is discussed among the team, your test results are available quickly, appointments are scheduled in coordination, and the most highly specialized epilepsy experts in the world are all working together for you.
What might take months to accomplish elsewhere can typically be done in only a matter of days at Mayo Clinic.
Personalized care
At Mayo Clinic, your doctor takes the time to listen to you and understand your needs.
Advanced diagnosis & treatment
Advanced diagnosis and treatment
Mayo Clinic care teams are equipped with the latest in technology and expertise to provide leading-edge diagnosis and treatment techniques.
New technologies can accurately identify the seizure focus.
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New techniques lead to more precise diagnosis and better treatment.
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Electrical Brain Stimulation for Epilepsy.
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Below the surface of pediatric epilepsy.
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Mayo Clinic epilepsy care teams use advanced technology, including subtraction ictal SPECT coregistered to MRI (SISCOM), electroencephalography, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and other tests to accurately diagnose epilepsy. Each Mayo Clinic location offers inpatient video-EEG epilepsy monitoring.
With state-of-the-art research and laboratory facilities, Mayo Clinic experts are constantly seeking medical discoveries and innovations for people with epilepsy. Today's research teams are studying potential treatments, including new medications and new surgical options. A variety of clinical trials and other clinical studies may be available to you at Mayo Clinic.
Mayo Clinic has expertise in the management and treatment of epilepsy, including complex epilepsy syndromes such as Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes, and epilepsy requiring advanced surgical and neuromodulation approaches. Treatment options at Mayo Clinic to eliminate seizures or reduce the frequency and intensity of seizures in children and adults include medications, vagus nerve stimulation, surgery, awake brain surgery, ketogenic diet and more.
Mayo Clinic is one of the leading deep brain stimulation implantation sites in the country — and one of the few facilities to have offered this advanced procedure prior to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Deep brain stimulation can significantly reduce seizures in people whose epilepsy is difficult to treat. Experts at Mayo Clinic have performed deep brain stimulation for a decade with good effectiveness, so they're able to offer you the highest levels of safety and experience.
Video
Advancements in epilepsy diagnostics and treatment
Nationally recognized expertise
The National Association of Epilepsy Centers rates all Mayo Clinic campuses as Level 4 epilepsy centers, providing the highest level of diagnosis and treatment options for people with epilepsy.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., ranks #1 for neurology and neurosurgery in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., is ranked among the Best Hospitals for neurology and neurosurgery, and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., is ranked high performing for neurology and neurosurgery by U.S. News & World Report. Mayo Clinic also ranks among the Best Children's Hospitals for neurology and neurosurgery.
The Mayo Clinic experience and patient stories
Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced. See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients.
Epilepsy Surgery Frees Kelly Daniels to Enjoy Her Independence
Kelly Daniels tried to control her seizures with medications. But the drugs were ineffective, and they left her feeling disoriented. Then she turned to Mayo Clinic, where she had brain surgery that stopped the seizures and put her life back on track. For a long time, seizures were a regular part of Kelly Daniels' life. [...]
Looking Toward the Future After a Long Road to Epilepsy Diagnosis
Undiagnosed epilepsy disrupted Jake Weiss' life for years. But a comprehensive evaluation finally revealed the true nature of his medical condition and gave him a new way forward. Jake Weiss says he felt like he was dying when panic attack symptoms set in. His heart raced. He got an abnormal sensation in his stomach. He [...]
Controlling Seizures With Careful Attention to Medication Details
Managing medications while keeping her seizures under control is a challenge for Hannah Soderberg. The Mayo Clinic Outpatient Pharmacy makes it easier with individualized attention and care. In many ways, Hannah Soderberg of Rochester, Minnesota, is a typical 14-year-old. She loves horses, her iPad, her guinea pig and her twin sister. But Hannah faces complex [...]
Epilepsy Care Makes the World More Peaceful for a Painter
For years, seizures caused confusion and disorder in Kristin Taheri's daily life. Then she turned to Mayo Clinic, where she received the diagnosis she had been seeking, and her care team worked diligently to stop her seizures. They say a picture paints a thousand words. For Kristin Taheri painting pictures has been a way of [...]
Brain Surgery Finally Secures Restful Nights for Jo Weir
Following cutting-edge brain scanning and precision surgery, Jo Weir is catching up on decades of sleep lost to nighttime seizures, and she's relishing her renewed energy. After more than 40 years, Jo Marie Weir is sleeping soundly. Plagued by nocturnal seizures that disrupted her nights since she was a teenager, Jo searched for decades to [...]
Finally Sleeping Soundly and Seizure-Free
After years of dealing with nighttime seizures, an Illinois man found the relief he sought after Mayo Clinic surgeons precisely mapped the source of his seizures. Evan Bachtold's wife, Rachel, used to be afraid of going to sleep. Lying next to her husband, who had epilepsy, each sound he uttered and every move he made [...]
Saving Grace: Finding Hope for a Seizure-Free Future
After suffering her first epileptic seizure at just 10 days of age, Grace Chan required six separate brain surgeries as surgeons worked to remove the harmful tissue that was causing her seizures. Ten days after giving birth, Christina Chen, M.D., was feeding her newborn daughter, Grace, when the young child's arms and head suddenly began [...]
Racing Ahead to a New Career After a Brain Injury
Just four months after being in a coma, Mike Short was crawling through tunnels, jumping over fiery logs, and scaling walls as part of a 5K race known as a "rugged maniac." The Georgia native owes his ability to participate in the race to the neurocritical care team at Mayo Clinic that helped him recover [...]
Novel Approach to Epilepsy Surgery Allows a Young Woman to Enjoy Life Again
Five weeks before she was born, Marissa B. had a stroke in utero. When her mother went into labor, Marissa had another stroke. Diagnosed with epilepsy at birth, Marissa spent her first month of life in the neonatal intensive care unit. ?When she was six months old, they did a brain MRI,? Marissa?s mom, Lisa, [...]
After 20 Years of Seizures, Erica Laney Enjoys Life Following Epilepsy Surgery
For much of her adolescent and adult life, Erica Laney, 31, had frequent petit mal seizures. Less often, she had grand mal seizures that led to loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. The cause of the seizures was abnormal electrical activity throughout her brain. ?The seizures started when I was 11 years old. I [...]
Expertise and rankings
Experienced specialists
Mayo Clinic specialists have the experience and resources to provide expert, personalized care to every patient.
Mayo Clinic's epilepsy experts provide comprehensive care for nearly 8,000 adults and children with epilepsy each year.
- Teamwork. Mayo Clinic neurologists, neurosurgeons, imaging specialists (radiologists), mental health specialists (neuropsychologists) and others work together to diagnose and treat adults and children with epilepsy.
- Advanced diagnostic tools. Mayo Clinic doctors use advanced technology, including subtraction ictal SPECT coregistered to MRI (SISCOM), electroencephalography, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and other tests to accurately diagnose epilepsy. Each Mayo Clinic location offers an inpatient video-EEG epilepsy monitoring unit and ambulatory EEG. Ambulatory EEGs allow for longer monitoring in the comfort of a patient's home to record brain activity over several days — which in some cases improves the chances of capturing seizure activity.
- The latest techniques and technology. Mayo Clinic doctors have expertise treating epilepsy with medications, vagus nerve stimulation, surgery, awake brain surgery, ketogenic diet and other options. Mayo Clinic surgeons use computer-assisted brain surgery to precisely operate in your brain.
- Nationally recognized expertise. The National Association of Epilepsy Centers rates all Mayo Clinic campuses as Level 4 epilepsy centers, providing the highest level of diagnosis and treatment options for people with epilepsy.
Care focused on you
At Mayo Clinic, doctors take the time to listen and understand your concerns so that you get exactly the care you need.
Learn more about Mayo Clinic's neurosurgery and neurology departments' expertise and rankings.
Locations, travel and lodging
Mayo Clinic has major campuses in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; and Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic Health System has dozens of locations in several states.
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Costs and insurance
Mayo Clinic works with hundreds of insurance companies and is an in-network provider for millions of people.
In most cases, Mayo Clinic doesn't require a physician referral. Some insurers require referrals, or may have additional requirements for certain medical care. All appointments are prioritized on the basis of medical need.
Learn more about appointments at Mayo Clinic.
Please contact your insurance company to verify medical coverage and to obtain any needed authorization prior to your visit. Often, your insurer's customer service number is printed on the back of your insurance card.
Jan. 23, 2019