Epilepsy Care at UChicago Medicine

Your Best Life Begins with Comprehensive Epilepsy Care

The Epilepsy Center at UChicago Medicine offers patients with epilepsy access to leading epilepsy specialists, comprehensive treatment and compassionate care. Through a multidisciplinary approach, our epilepsy experts design a tailored treatment plan with the goal of improving your quality of life by getting your seizures under control. When you come to us, you can expect care that is customized to you and the way you experience seizures. 

We offer flexible scheduling options to help you connect with our experts at convenient locations in Hyde Park, Flossmoor and South Loop.

Leading-Edge Treatment Options

Many people with epilepsy can live seizure free with appropriate medication and treatment. However, some patients come to us after trying a number of different medications and therapies with little success. For those with uncontrollable seizures or other symptoms, we offer advanced surgical and epilepsy device treatments that are not widely available.

Surgery

UChicago Medicine offers some of the most advanced surgical techniques to treat epilepsy and is one of the most experienced centers in the nation in providing minimally invasive laser surgery for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Our team pioneered many of these procedures, and are frequently able to offer surgery to patients not previously considered candidates for surgery.

We perform the following epilepsy surgeries:

  • Focal Resection
  • Hemispherectomy
  • Laser Corpus Callosotomy
  • Subpial Transection
  • Visualase & Stereotactic Epilepsy Surgery

Device Therapy

If your seizures cannot be controlled with medications and you are not a candidate for surgery, we offer several epilepsy devices to help prevent or interrupt seizures. Our specialists will work with you to determine if an epilepsy device is the best option for you.

We offer the following epilepsy devices:

  • Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
  • NeuroPace Responsive Neurostimulation System (RNS)
  • Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)

A Team of Epilepsy Experts

At UChicago Medicine, our experts are at the forefront of epilepsy care. Our carefully individualized drug regimens, sophisticated seizure monitoring and comprehensive surgery plans set us apart from other centers.

Our team works together to treat you as a whole person — not just your epilepsy. We are dedicated to offering the most effective, individualized treatments to every patient we see. You can schedule an appointment instantly with one of our experts through our online scheduling portal.

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James Tao, MD

Neurology
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Peter Warnke, MD

Neurosurgery
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Naoum P. Issa, MD

Neurology
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Sandra Rose, MD

Neurology
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Shasha Wu, MD

Neurology
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Maureen Lacy, PhD

Psychology
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Hiba A. Haider, MD

Neurology

Epilepsy Nurse

Shadrach Castillo, RN

Registered Electroencephalographic Technologist

Diane Suarez, REEGT

Level 4 Epilepsy Center

We’re recognized as one of the best. Accredited as a Level 4 epilepsy center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC), UChicago Medicine offers the highest level of epilepsy care. This designation indicates our ability to provide the most advanced medical and surgical procedures for diagnosing and treating patients with complex epilepsy.

Get a Definitive Diagnosis

Our expert team has the experience to diagnose and manage nearly all epilepsy-related problems, from new onset seizures to rare and difficult-to-treat epileptic syndromes. We understand how important a correct diagnosis is to a successful treatment plan. With non-invasive technology and the latest diagnostic techniques, we can pinpoint the origin of your seizures, or the “seizure focus,” and determine which treatment will offer the best opportunity for you to achieve seizure freedom.

Advanced Medication Management

Finding the right medication for epilepsy can be complex and requires expertise. At UChicago Medicine, our specialists are highly experienced in determining the best anti-epileptic drugs to control seizures with minimal side effects. There are several anti-epileptic drugs available to choose from and we will work together to decide the best one for you. We regularly check medication levels and measure drug effectiveness to make sure the treatment is working as intended.

Epilepsy Research and Clinical Trials

Backed by the development of groundbreaking diagnostic techniques and a long history of research, our patients have access to clinical trials of promising new treatments not widely available. Currently, we are one of the only centers offering a clinical trial for laser surgery to treat drug-resistant epilepsy.

Request an Appointment

You can schedule an appointment instantly with one of our Epilepsy experts through our online scheduling portal. To speak to someone directly, please call 1-773-702-6222.

The information you provide will enable us to assist you as efficiently as possible. A representative will contact you within one to two business days to help you schedule an appointment. 

If you have symptoms of an urgent nature, please call your doctor or go to the emergency room immediately.

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Epilepsy

Epilepsy Care at UChicago Medicine

Understanding Seizure Mapping and Laser Ablation Surgery

Neurosurgeon Peter Warnke, MD, and neurologist Naoum Issa, MD, PhD, explain how mapping where seizures start in the brain and performing laser ablation surgery can effectively treat some medication-resistant seizures and epilepsy.

Learn more about seizure mapping and laser ablation surgery
Image of brain with epilepsy