For Providers

Referring a Patient

To co-manage, or transfer care
to the CEC, please call
Karen Secore, Nurse Navigator for the Epilepsy Center at
(805) 832-3633

The Cottage Epilepsy Center (CEC) is the only Center of its kind between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Our comprehensive epilepsy program includes a team of epilepsy specialists and state-of-the-art monitoring equipment. Each patient will receive personalized care during their diagnosis and treatment.

Teamwork

Each patient will be managed by the Cottage Health epilepsy team during hospitalization; however, input from their referring provider is necessary and patients will continue to keep their referral provider relationship intact.

We at Cottage Health look forward to working closely with you, the referring provider, in diagnosis and treatment of this complex patient population.

Services

  • Video-EEG monitoring for differential diagnosis of “spells” and pre-surgical evaluation for medically refractory epilepsy.
  • Imaging techniques including 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla high resolution MRI, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning for localization of seizure foci.
  • Specialized neuropsychological testing.
  • Evaluation for medical and surgical management, which may include resection, and neurostimulator implant procedures such as VNS and RNS.
  • Admission to the hospital may be indicated for diagnosis, medication management/changes in a safe setting and pre-surgical evaluation.

Our Staff

  • The center is staffed by formally trained, Board Certified Epileptologists and nurses to care for epilepsy patients.
  • Patients are referred to CEC by medical care providers, including neurologists and primary care providers.

Surgical Evaluation

  • Patients who are surgical candidates may require additional testing such as a Wada test (intracarotid amytal test) and ictal SPECT, MEG, FMRI.
  • Test results will be discussed at an epilepsy case conference with a multidisciplinary team including, epileptologists, neurologists, neuroradiologist, nursing, EEG technologist and neuropsychologist.
  • Patients who are recommended for surgical treatment will then be referred to a neurosurgeon that specializes in epilepsy surgery techniques including intracranial electrode placement, surgical resection, intraoperative functional mapping and implantation of neurostimulator devices.