Our Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
The UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program is home to a state-of-the-art 11-bed adult epilepsy monitoring unit that specializes in diagnosing and guiding treatment for people whose seizures are not controlled by medication.
It is the largest such unit in inland Northern California that is accredited by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers as a level 4. This is the highest-level designation.
In addition, the program houses a NAEC-accredited, dedicated 4-bed pediatric epilepsy monitoring unit.
The UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program celebrated the grand opening of the hospital unit in January 2024.
If you are among the one-third of people with epilepsy who may be a candidate for curing your condition through surgery or improving seizure control with implanted brain electrical stimulation devices, your journey will include an evaluation in an epilepsy monitoring unit.
Many patients experience this evaluation in two phases.
In the first phase, electrodes are attached to the scalp to monitor seizure activity using a process called electroencephalography (EEG), which records the electrical activity of the brain.
If seizures are detected and meet the requirements for treatment through surgery or implanting brain stimulation devices, the patient moves on to the second phase, called intracranial monitoring (also called stereo-EEG or SEEG). At that time, their brain is temporarily implanted with a set of a dozen or so very small electrodes. Each electrode collects electrical impulse data. The patient then stays in the monitoring unit for as long as it takes for them to experience a seizure. Once the seizure source is successfully mapped in the brain and the seizure type determined through electrode readings, the electrodes are removed. The patient goes home until their treatment with surgery or devices.
Beyond undergoing diagnostics, some patients participate in research while they stay in the unit.
Many studies use the implanted electrodes to record data. For example, researchers can see how a single brain cell responds during everyday activities such as talking with your family.
In addition to improving treatment for epilepsy, patients implanted with intracranial electrodes allow doctors and scientists to better understand the basic mechanisms of learning, memory, emotion and language. They can use this information to develop better treatments for different types of cognitive dysfunction.
Learn more about neuroscience clinical trials.