Department of Neurology
Department of Pediatrics
The Epilepsy Center at Hadassah provides a wide range of services for children and adults with epilepsy, from the initial diagnosis of the disease to the management of patients with drug resistant epilepsy, including surgery for eligible patients. Since our goal is to prevent epileptic seizures but also to provide the patients with best possible functional capacities, special consideration is given to individual patients’ populations, such as infants and young children, people with additional medical problems, women of childbearing age, and seniors.
The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center offers a variety of services for ambulatory and hospitalized patients, provided by the center’s team, with the support of the departments of Neurology, Pediatrics and Neurosurgery and the Neuropediatrics unit, and under close cooperation with other departments and services within Hadassah Medical Center. Our services include:
- Designated outpatients clinics under the supervision of the Center’s physicians
- Routine and sleep EEG recordings for infants, children and adults; EEG recordings under sedation for people with special needs; ambulatory Holter EEG recordings
- Advanced diagnosis of epilepsy and types of epileptic seizures by means of inpatient video-EEG monitoring
- Identification of eligible patients for epilepsy surgery and detailed planning of the surgery, including, as needed, imaging studies (MRI, functional MRI, PET, SPECT), neuropsychological and psychiatrical evaluations and inpatient video-EEG monitoring with extracranial and with invasive, intracranial, electrodes.
Research activities are taking place as part of the Epilepsy Center at Hadassah, for the advancement of knowledge on brain disorders in general and epilepsy in particular, and also for a better understanding of the human brain’s normal function. Clinical studies are performed to investigate the safety and efficacy of new diagnostic procedures and treatment approaches. The enrolment in clinical trials is done on a voluntary basis, after full consent of the patient.
Ongoing clinical trials and research activities (link)
The team of the Epilepsy Center at Hadassah
Dana Ekstein, MD – adults’ epilepsy
Shahar Arzy, MD, PhD – adults’ epilepsy
Israel Matoth, MD – pediatric epilepsy
Odeya Benet, MD – pediatric epilepsy
Mony Benifla, MD – neurosurgery
Zvi Israel, MD – neurosurgery
Renana Eitan, MD – psychiatry
Yehoshua Newman, PhD – neuropsychology
Aya Gal – neuropsychology
EEG technologists: Orit Garbi, Naomi Froimovich, Hagit Levy, Zila Magen
Contact information:
For general information, hospitalization, scheduling of tests: 050-5172723
For scheduling appointments with the Center’s physicians please call: 02-5842111 (public outpatients’ clinics) or 02-6778899 (private outpatients’ clinics).
Non-urgent medical or general questions to the team can also be sent by email to: epilepsy@hadassah.org.il.
In case of emergency, please contact your treating physician or the emergency department closest to your home.
On the disease:
What is an epileptic seizure?
An epileptic seizure is a transient change in behavior caused by abnormal electrical activity in part of the brain. Clinically, an epileptic seizure may manifest itself in a variety of ways, depending on the part of the brain involved in the abnormal electrical activity. Among the most common manifestations are: loss of consciousness or awareness, convulsions, confusion, transient visual, auditory or sensory hallucinations. Epileptic seizures are very common. One of every 10 persons will experience an epileptic seizure at least one in their lives.
What is epilepsy?
Anyone may experience an epileptic seizure as a complication of high fever in young children, of a drop in the blood concentration of salt, of infections or as a side effect of medications. Nevertheless, people who suffer from epilepsy have the preponderance for the occurrence of recurrent unprovoked seizures. The prevalence of epilepsy is 1-2% of the population in developed countries. People may first present with epilepsy at any age, but children and young adults up to the age of 25, as well as people over the age of 60 are especially prone to the development of epilepsy.
What are the causes of having epilepsy?
The most common causes for the development of epilepsy vary according to the age of presentation: genetic factors and developmental problems are the main etiologies of epilepsy that first presents in childhood or early adulthood, whereas brain injuries, tumors and strokes are the main underlying causes of epilepsy in adults.
How is epilepsy diagnosed?
The diagnosis of epilepsy relays mainly on the medical history, obtained from the patient and from people who have witnessed the patient’s seizures. In order to make the correct diagnosis of a specific type of epilepsy the neurologist will also physically examine the patient and, in most cases, will obtain a brain imaging study (by MRI or CT scan) and a recording of the electrical activity of the brain (brain waves), by means of an EEG. In certain cases, when the diagnosis is not clear, continuous long term EEG monitoring is being used.
What is the treatment for epilepsy?
The vast majority of people with epilepsy are treated with anti-epileptic medications, which prevent the occurrence of seizures. With accurate adherence to treatment and follow up, 60 to 70% of people will achieve lasting seizure freedom. Part of these patients may even be gradually weaned of the medications after several years without recurrence of the epileptic seizures. However, about a third of the people with epilepsy continue to have seizures that do not respond well enough to medications. These patients are candidates for more sophisticated treatment options, such as epilepsy surgery, implantation of vagal nerve stimulator (VNS) and treatments with investigational drugs or devices.