Epilepsy

USF Health is home to a comprehensive epilepsy program and our neurologists develop individualized care plans for patients with epilepsy that include a range of therapies, from pharmaceutical management to surgical options. As an academic medical center, we are uniquely qualified to provide the most comprehensive care of complex cases of epilepsy, especially for patients with difficult to control seizures. Epilepsy, a disorder of the central nervous system, can be disruptive to daily life, but there are treatments that can help effectively manage this condition.

Based on guidelines established by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers USF Health's Epilepsy Program, based at Tampa General Hospital, is a fourth (highest) level medical and surgical epilepsy center. We are one of four centers in the state of Florida, and the only one in West Central Florida, with this level of expertise. With more than 50 respective surgeries per year since 2003, we are now the highest volume surgical epilepsy center in Florida.

Epilepsy Patient Treatments

Routine EEG
Ambulatory EEG
Pro-longed EEG-video monitoring
Invasive EEG
In-patient continuous EEG-monitoring
Vagnus nerve stimulation (VNS)
Wada testing

Surgical Treatments

Temporal lobectomy
Extratemporal resection
Corpus callosotomy
Hemispherectomy

Clinical Trials

Brain Sentinel - Currently Enrolling

The Brain Sentinel® Seizure Monitoring and Alerting System has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used on the belly of the biceps muscle to analyze surface electromyographs (sEMG) signals that may be associated with generalized tonic-clonic (GTC) seizures, and to provide an alarm to alert caregivers of certain movements of the body that could be associated with a GTC seizure. GTC seizures are the most common type of seizures. They are seizures that affect the electrical activity of the entire brain. sEMG is a technique use to look at electrical activity of muscle and skeletal groups. The purpose of this research is to determine the System’s performance, its ease of use for patients and physicians, and to collect observational data related to the clinical utility of the System in an outpatient setting in patients with a history of motor seizures.

To enroll in this study at USF please contact Tara McTigue at (813)259-0826.

Cavion Absence Epilepsy - Currently Enrolling

This is a research study of an experimental drug called CX-8998 for adolescents and young adults who have absence epilepsy. The purpose of this study is to learn whether CX-8998 has any side effects when given for 27 days in total daily doses of 4 milligrams (mg) to 20 mg per day.

For more information on this study please visit this website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03406702

To enroll in this study at USF please contact Tara McTigue at (813)259-0826

OPUS - Currently Enrolling

The purpose of this study is to see how well natalizumab works in subjects with focal epilepsy (when seizures start in a region of the brain). Subjects who participate in this study have seizures that did not fully improve after taking 2 or more anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) and that still occur frequently. This study will see if the number of seizures subjects experience decreases while taking the study drug and how safe the study drug is. The study drug will be given as an additional therapy alongside the subjects’ usual AEDs.

For more information on this study please visit this website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03283371

To enroll in this study at USF please contact Tara McTigue at (813)259-0826

The STAR Study - Currently Enrolling

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety, effectiveness and tolerability (how well you are able to take the study drug without serious side effects) of eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) when given with levetiracetam or lamotrigine as a first option of treatment to those with partial-onset seizures who have not taken any previous treatments together for their partial-onset seizures.

For more information on this study please visit this website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03116828

To enroll in this study at USF please contact Tara McTigue at (813)259-0826

UCB EP0088

Multicenter 1-Year observational study of patients who are initiating Brivaracetam. The overall objective of this study is to inform clinical through real-life experience to achieve better patient outcomes using Brivaracetam.

To enroll in this study at USF please contact Tara McTigue at 813-259-8577 or Tmctigue@health.usf.edu

Meet Our Experts

Ushtar Amin, MD
Selim Benbadis, MD

Epilepsy, EEG, and Sleep Medicine
Angelica Rivera-Cruz, MD

Epilepsy, EEG, and Sleep Medicine
Kristen Zemina, MD

Neurology

Request Appointment

(813) 821-8017