Stopping Seizures

Epilepsy services have expanded at Inova Alexandria Hospital. “We have surgical services available, including implanting brain electrodes to evaluate and record seizures, and we have procedures to reduce or eliminate seizures as well,” says James Leiphart, MD, PhD, FACS, FAANS, Director of Epilepsy Surgery and Co-Director of Epilepsy Services for Inova Alexandria Hospital.

“That’s the big advance that we’re moving forward with,” he continues. “[We have] more of a surgical program, as well as what we already had, which is years and years of experience in patient monitoring and treatment.”

This availability of surgical procedures makes a huge difference for the 20 percent of epilepsy sufferers who do not respond to medicine-based treatments, notes Lewis B. Eberly, MD, Medical Director of Neuroscience and Stroke at Inova Alexandria Hospital. “Epilepsy surgery provides significant improvement in seizure control for most patients who are carefully selected for this procedure,” he says.

Thanks to its dedicated staff, Inova Alexandria Hospital is able to better serve these sufferers of epilepsy. “I was hired by Inova to spearhead the surgical side of the program,” says Dr. Leiphart.

In addition to the new focus on surgical offerings, Inova Alexandria Hospital is increasing its number of monitored beds. These beds are used for evaluating patients with epilepsy to determine the type of epilepsy and whether the patient is a candidate for surgery.

“Long-term epilepsy monitoring is important for evaluating patients with frequent seizures, patients with spells of unclear etiology [or origin] and patients who are candidates for epilepsy surgery,” according to Dr. Eberly, who along with Dr. Leiphart is also affiliated with Inova Fairfax Hospital.

The Technology of Treatment

Technology is an important part of the epilepsy services provided by the surgeons and professionals at Inova Alexandria Hospital. Staying on the cutting edge allows the Inova Alexandria Hospital staff to offer the latest in epilepsy treatments.  Here are just two of the technologies they use.

•  Vagus Nerve Stimulation  (VNS) — This is an outpatient procedure that involves implanting an electrode into the patient’s chest. How does it work? When the patient senses a seizure, the patient can swipe a magnet on the  electrode on his chest, which can stop the seizure.
•  NeuroPace — Inova doctors  have been in talks to begin using this FDA-approved device for recording and blocking seizures through stimulation.

Learn more about epilepsy testing and treatment at www.inova.org/epilepsy.