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The F. E. Dreifuss Comprehensive Epilepsy Program

This internationally recognized pioneering program provides diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy and related disorders while at the same time conducting basic and advanced clinical research in epilepsy-related areas.

The program provides both inpatient and outpatient services. The six-bed inpatient unit is on the sixth floor of the hospital, and a two-bed invasive monitoring suite is in the NNICU.

The program operates the EEG/EP Laboratory and offers the following additional services to adult and pediatric patients:

• Evaluation
• Intensive monitoring
• Drug therapy or trials
• Serum anticonvulsant level testing
• Evaluation for surgical therapy (including long-term video EEG monitoring and intracranial electrode monitoring)
• Concentrated vocational rehabilitation
• Social services, and health and special education
• Physical and occupational therapy, psychological evaluation, and nutritional guidance are also available

The Comprehensive Epilepsy Program operates a regional clinic program that serves the western two-thirds of the Commonwealth of Virginia and several counties of upper eastern Tennessee. The clinic program has grown out of a State Health Department-sponsored Epilepsy and Child Neurology Program, and now consists of master clinics and field clinics. The department is responsible for direct patient care to one of the master clinics and four of the field clinics.

A pioneer in epilepsy treatment

University of Virginia's F.E. Dreifuss Comprehensive Epilepsy Program (CEP) was founded in 1977 as one of only three such programs nationwide funded by the National Institutes of Health. The CEP offers the most advanced resources available to help patients achieve remission of their seizures. Today, the CEP is not only comprehensive in terms of it's team approach to care, but also in it's ability to apply every available diagnostic and treatment option.

We have outpatient clinics in Charlottesville and Southwest Virginia to provide initial and ongoing consultations to about 3,500 individuals each year. Digital/video EEGs are a part of the comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic services.

Through the Inpatient Epilepsy Unit, we offer comprehensive evaluation, including intensive video and EEG monitoring of patients with seizures that are difficult to diagnose or control. We are able to work with up to 7 patients at a time in our new facilities.

We treat patients with intractable epilepsy in other ways. Surgery to remove the seizure focus is indicated for some epilepsy patients. This may be performed using standard neurosurgical techniques or the Gamma Knife. Vagus Nerve Stimulation and experimental medications are other alternatives. Click here for detailed information about epilepsy surgery and testing.

Hope through Research

Click to read the articles, Recent Advances in Epilepsy , Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, or A Cure for Epilepsy from UVa Top News.

For more information about epilepsy, please visit the Epilepsy Foundation Association.

Find a physician specializing in epilepsy.

Check out our clinical trials.

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