COMPREHENSIVE EPILEPSY PROGRAM

The Adult and Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center provides state of the art medical and surgical treatment for individuals with epilepsy and is a top research program in epilepsy research. The program provides comprehensive epilepsy care through a dedicated multidisciplinary team that includes adult and pediatric specialists including dedicated neurologists/epileptologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, epilepsy nurse coordinators, neuropathologists, neuroradiologists, and EEG technologists. Control of seizures is one treatment goal; optimizing quality of life is a second. The program has been designated as a Level Four Epilepsy Center, the highest category, by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers.

The adult epilepsy program is led by Director Maysaa M. Basha, M.D. and supported by doctors:  Deepti Zutshi, M.D., Rohit Marawar, M.D., Mona El Sayed, M.D and Waleed Abood, M.D.  Epilepsy surgery is performed with close partnership with Dr. Partha Chamiraju, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine. The adult epilepsy program is well integrated with the pediatric epilepsy program in the Division of Pediatric Neurology, which receives referrals for surgery from national and international sources and extramural research support from multiple NIH grants. The division is led by Aimee Luat, M.D. and Eishi Asano, M.D., Ph.D., Director of EEG laboratory at Children's Hospital of Michigan, and Sandeep Sood, M.D., Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery. The faculty members of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program come from a diverse background and are leaders in their respective fields.

A full complement of advanced diagnostic tests, including video-EEG monitoring, high-resolution volumetric MRI scanning, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning with multiple tracers, ictal and interictal Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT) scan with ability to perform subtraction imaging and co-registration with MRI (SISCOM), functional MRI (fMRI), MR spectroscopy (MRS), and other cutting-edge MR imaging modalities utilizing the 3-Tesla unit at WSU, intraoperative EEG monitoring, and neuropsychological evaluation including intracarotid amybarbital (Wada) testing, is available to establish seizure classification, to assess response to medical therapy, and to evaluate patients for epilepsy surgery. 

The outpatient Epilepsy Clinics evaluate and treat patient with refractory epilepsy and is a referral center in the state of Michigan.  Specialty clinics in Pregnancy & Epilepsy (established since 2015) and Epilepsy in the Elderly (established since 2017) are a thriving component of our center.  In collaboration with Children's Hospital of Michigan we have an established mechanism of transition form the pediatric to the adult epilepsy clinic for optimal continuity of care for a wide range of pediatric onset epilepsy which includes "benign" as well genetic complex etiologies. 

Participation in investigational, multicenter trials of new antiepileptic medications is also available for patients with difficult to control epilepsy. When the medical management fails, the comprehensive epilepsy program evaluation may recommend epilepsy surgery. In that case, a team of subspecialty trained neurosurgeons provide state of the art surgical care.