Epilepsy Program

General Info

The Yale Epilepsy Program provides promising options for many adult and pediatric patients. Internationally known for clinical excellence and innovative research, this program was one of the nation's first and has evolved into one of the most active and advanced in the world.

Yale is internationally recognized as a leader in innovative surgery for medically intractable epilepsy. This multidisciplinary program includes adult and pediatric neurosurgeons, epileptologists, neuropsychologists, neuroradiologists, and neuropathologists within outpatient facilities, a six-bed adult epilepsy monitoring unit, a two-bed pediatric epilepsy monitoring unit, and a technologically advanced operating suite.

Neurologists work in collaboration with neurosurgeons and diagnostic radiologists to deliver intensive and innovative therapeutic and diagnostic services to individuals with varying forms and degrees of seizures and epilepsy. Specialists perform intensive audiovisual and EEG monitoring for diagnosis and localization of the affected area.

Patients worldwide are evaluated in phases to precisely determine concordance of electrophysiology, cognitive testing, history, physical and neurological examination with advanced imaging, using MRI, SPECT and PET techniques.

The combination of advanced diagnostic techniques available at Yale is not duplicated by any other center in the U.S. Each surgical patient is addressed individually to determine which procedure or combination of procedures - such as the use of multiple kinds of electrodes - is appropriate.

The state-of-the-art operating room suite contains advanced digitized imaging, computerized stereotaxy and sophisticated electrophysiology in order to perform optimal, yet safe, resections and to place intracranial electrodes for those patients who need invasive electrophysiological confirmation of an epileptogenic region.

Yale conducts research in all areas - physiology, biochemistry, basic science, and imaging - making this the most progressive program in the country. Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital are participating in a multi-center, FDA-approved feasibility clinical investigation of a responsive brain neurostimulator device for the treatment of epilepsy. The neurostimulator is designed to detect seizures in patients with epilepsy and to deliver mild electrical stimulation to suppress seizures before the patient has any symptoms. And Yale is part of a multi-institution consortium testing triggered deep-brain stimulation, a very new approach to treating uncontrolled epilepsy.

Special services offered by this program include:

Evaluation through use of the ictal SPECT, a special imaging procedure that allows an image of the blood flow in the brain to be captured during a seizure
Combined usage of all types of implantable electrodes including depth electrodes, subdural strip electrodes, and grid electrodes to localize the seizure-generating region in some patients
Surgical procedures for epilepsy, including the anteromedial temporal lobe resection, staged corpus callosotomy, and intra-operative or extra-operative mapping of the primary function
Evaluation of epilepsy patients through the use of the most sophisticated MR machines in the world

Contact: Colleen Malone, Epilepsy Surgery Coordinator, 203-785-4891

Alkawadri, Rafeed, M.D.	Instructor in Neurology	(203) 785-3865 Appts (203) 737-2799 Fax
Blumenfeld, Hal, MD, PhD	Professor of Neurology, of Neurobiology and of Neurosurgery; Director, Yale Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC)	(203) 785-3865 Appts (203) 737-2799 Fax
Bronen, Richard Arden, MD	Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and of Neurosurgery; Vice Chair, Academic Affairs	(203) 688-2433 Appts (203) 688-9258 Fax
Desan, Paul H, MD, PhD	Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Psychiatric Consultation Service
Detyniecki, Kamil, MD	Assistant Professor of Neurology	(203) 785-3865 Appts (203) 785-4937 Fax
Duckrow, Robert Bradford, MD	Associate Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery; Chief, Epilepsy Monitoring Unit	(203) 785-3865 Appts (203) 737-2799 Fax
Farooque, Pue, DO	Instructor in Neurology	(203) 785-4085 Appts (203) 785-3732 Fax
Gerrard, Jason Lee, MD, PhD	Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery; Section Chief, Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery	(203) 785-4891 Appts (203) 785-2043 Fax
Hirsch, Lawrence J., MD	Professor of Neurology; Chief, Division of Epilepsy and EEG; Co-Director, Yale Comprehensive Epilepsy Center	(203) 785-3865 Appts
Levy, Susan R, MD	Clinical Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology), in the Child Study Center and of Neurology	(203) 785-4081 Appts
Mattson, Richard Henry, MD	Professor Emeritus of and Senior Research Scientist in Neurology; Epilepsy Fellowship Director	(203) 785-3865 Appts (203) 737-2799 Fax
Petroff, Ognen A. C., MD, FAAN, FACNS	Associate Professor of Neurology	(203) 688-2495 Appts (203) 737-1597 Fax
Rampal, Nishi, MD	Instructor in Neurology	(203) 785-4085 Appts
Spencer, Dennis Dee, MD	Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery; Chair, Department of Neurosurgery; Director, Epilepsy Surgery Program; Director, Pituitary Tumor Program	(203) 785-4891 Appts (203) 785-2043 Fax
Testa, Francine Maria, MD	Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and of Neurology
Winstanley, Francis Scott, PhD	Assistant Professor of Neurology	(203) 764-9052 Appts (203) 764-5912 Fax