The Arkansas Epilepsy Center at UAMS Health is one of only two comprehensive level 4 epilepsy centers in the state of Arkansas certified by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC). The other, staffed by UAMS doctors, is at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The UAMS Epilepsy Center provides multidisciplinary evaluation for patients with seizures and epilepsy.
We typically see patients who have epilepsy that isn’t able to be well-controlled by medicine, called medically refractory epilepsy. People also call it uncontrolled epilepsy, intractable epilepsy, or drug-resistant epilepsy. The epilepsy care that we provide includes outpatient clinics, an EEG laboratory, an inpatient epilepsy-monitoring unit (EMU) and surgical services. Our team is made up of experienced, fellowship-trained faculty and support personnel from many different subspecialties at UAMS.
Technology for Treating Epilepsy in Arkansas
The Epilepsy Surgery Program at UAMS Health benefits from the latest advances in technological innovation and cutting-edge techniques for diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. We offer the entire spectrum of surgical procedures for treating patients with epilepsy.
Our invasive EEG monitoring procedures include stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG), which is the safe and minimally-invasive surgical implantation of customized electrodes into the depths of the brain for seizure monitoring. This procedure has been used in Europe for over 50 years, but has only recently come to North America. At UAMS, this procedure is supported by an advanced stereotactic robotic system (called ‘ROSA’) that helps us perform SEEG with excellent clinical results. We also often use conventional grid electrodes to record electrical seizure activity directly from the surface of the brain.
Either of these techniques may be used to identify a potential seizure focus during a short in-hospital admission. They also allow for additional clinical testing to ensure that resection may be safely achieved.
