Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital said it was recently reaccredited as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center for 2023 and 2024 by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers.
This status is the highest level of accreditation for epilepsy care, which recognizes programs with the professional expertise and advanced capabilities to provide the medical and surgical evaluation and treatment for patients with complex epilepsy.
Upon granting full accreditation, the NAEC noted that it was “pleased that your (the RWJUH) center was able to maintain standards for providing high-quality care to people with epilepsy during the public health emergency.”
“This accreditation affirms our team’s dedication to providing the most advanced, expert care in this discipline,” Bill Arnold, CEO and president at RWJUH, said. “Working in partnership with clinicians across RWJBarnabas Health System, our epilepsy-specialized neurologists and neurosurgeons offer patients the most advanced treatment and management capabilities, as well as access to clinical trials available only at academic medical centers. We are committed to providing our patients with the best opportunity to live active, productive lives.”
The RWJUH Epilepsy Center provides evaluation, diagnosis, treatment and management of children and adults who have epilepsy as well as seizure disorders. The center includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, neuroradiologists, nurse practitioners, pharmacologists, psychiatrists, neuropathologists, nutritionists and research coordinators.
Patients also have opportunities to enroll in clinical trials of new antiepileptic medications for various seizure types and evaluations for epilepsy surgery. The center also addresses quality-of-life concerns, including depression, memory issues, safe driving, bone health, reproductive health and pregnancy.
Diagnostic and treatment procedures at the RWJUH Neuro-Electro-Diagnostic Laboratory include:
- High-resolution epilepsy protocol MRI brain scans;
- Laser thermal ablation surgery;
- Outpatient laboratory electroencephalogram (EEG) and evoked potentials (nerve responses) for infants, children and adults;
- Phase 1 long-term inpatient video EEG monitoring with scalp electrodes to identify an area of the brain responsible for epileptic activity or to differentiate between epileptic events and nonepileptic symptoms;
- Phase 2 Wada testing (cerebral angiogram with neuropsychological testing during EEG monitoring), which assesses language, memory and language dominance on one side of the brain at a time;
- Phase 3 video EEG with intracranial electrodes (subdural, grid or depth, etc.) to accurately pinpoint the epileptic focus for possible surgery;
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scans;
- Resective epilepsy surgery to remove specific brain tissues that may be responsible for seizures;
- Sleep studies;
- Vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) therapy; and
- Responsive neurostimulation implants.
