Epilepsy Center
Our epilepsy program has earned a national reputation for its medical and surgical treatment of seizure disorders. We’re also accredited by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers as a level-four epilepsy center, which indicates the most comprehensive level of care for patients with epileptic seizures. This includes both adults and children diagnosed with epilepsy.
We provide ongoing treatment to control seizures, maintain safety and allow our patients to participate in sports and other normal daily activities.
Treatments may include anti-seizure medications, epilepsy surgery, and vagal nerve and other neurostimulator devices. Whether you're experiencing epilepsy-like symptoms for the first time or have been diagnosed with a seizure disorder and are continuing to have uncontrolled seizures despite treatment, we can help.
At the Swedish Epilepsy Center, we have sophisticated resources to make an accurate diagnosis in our specially equipped inpatient suites, including four rooms dedicated for children. After a complete medical history, we will carefully monitor seizure activity with state-of-the-art technology, including:
- Tesla MRI machines
- Video electroencephalogram (VEEG) telemetry monitoring
- Using infrared video cameras, EEG recordings and other equipment, we collect valuable information to help us understand what happens before, during and at the end of your seizures
- Special imaging studies, called SPECT, PET and SISCOM scans, are used to give information about the function of different brain areas during and between seizures
After testing and monitoring has been completed, and a diagnosis has been made, each case is carefully reviewed to develop individual treatment plans.
- Ongoing medical care and monitoring while taking anti-seizure medications
- Epilepsy surgeries, including:
- Removing the area of the brain where the seizures originate.
- Procedures such as focal resections, hemispherectomy and corpus callosotomy to block a seizure's electrical route.
- Multiple subpial transection (MST) when the seizure focus is in a vital area of the brain, for example, in areas that control movement, feeling, language or memory
- Vagus nerve stimulation therapy
- Clinical trials and new therapies available through epilepsy research
The neurophysiology laboratory at Swedish is a critical component of the epilepsy program. The inpatient epilepsy monitoring lab is currently performing EEG (electroencephalography) video-monitoring at a rate of more than 500 a year. Our EEG lab is one of only a handful of labs in the western United States to be accredited by the ABRET (American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic and Evoked Potential Technologists). Our Neurophysiologic Intraoperative Monitoring lab is one of only 13 labs in the entire United States to be accredited by ABRET.
Several inpatient and outpatient services are also available. These services include adult and pediatric outpatient EEG, adult and pediatric visual, auditory and somatosensory evoked potentials. Swedish maintains its position as a leader in neurophysiology services by:
- National ABRET accreditation of staff and laboratories
- Maintaining technologically advanced equipment and facilities
- Providing ongoing clinical education
- Conducting Neurophysiology research
- Promoting a Culture of Safety
The technology for each Swedish telehealth program is customized to the services and needs of the patients and their physicians. Instead of video conferencing, the TeleEEG program provides hospitals and individual physicians access to Swedish’s secure computer network to upload electroencephalograms (EEG) for interpretation by neurology specialists at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute.
An EEG measures electrical activity in the brain and is used to help diagnose many different medical conditions. Many facilities have the capability to complete the EEG; however, interpreting the EEG requires the skills and expertise of an epileptologist – a specialist who is not usually available at a community hospital or in rural areas of the state. Neonatal EEG interpretations require an even greater degree of specialty that is usually only available at a regional medical center, such as Swedish.
The Swedish TeleEEG program maintains the convenience of locally performed EEGs, while speeding up the interpretation process so the results can be communicated more quickly to the patient’s physician and treatment can begin that much sooner.
- Eliminates distances
- Reduces traffic tie-ups for patients
- Helps ensure physicians have reliable information in a timely manner so they can offer their patients the best treatment possible
- Initial visit patient questionnaire
- FAQs regarding VEEG monitoring
- Preparation for VEEG Monitoring
- Swedish Medical Group financial application; contact the financial assistance counselors for additional information: 206-386-2646
At the Swedish Epilepsy Center, our team of experts can see your patients quickly to help clarify the diagnosis in patients with seizure-like symptoms, fine tune a treatment plan, and return patients to you for lifelong care. We offer a full range of medical and surgical treatments for adults and children with epilepsy.
Consider referring patients to the Swedish Epilepsy Center if your patient is having seizure or seizure-like events, but has a normal EEG or poor response to medications.
We strive to make the referral process as easy as possible and can offer expedited appointments for your patients. Please call 206-320-3492 to make a referral or speak to one of our epilepsy specialists.
You may also make a referral within the Swedish system through EPIC.
Awards & Accreditation
ABRET accreditation for all four of our Neuro Diagnostic programs; EEG, IOM, Epilepsy Monitoring and Continuous NCCU monitoring! We are the only hospital on the entire West Coast to have achieved this high standard.
Swedish Epilepsy Program is accredited by the NAEC as a level 4 epilepsy center. Level 4 epilepsy centers have the professional expertise and facilities to provide the highest level medical and surgical evaluation and treatment for patients with complex epilepsy.