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Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU)

Clinics

UNC Neurology Epilepsy operates out of two major clinics: the Adult Epilepsy Clinic at Meadowmont, Chapel Hill, and the Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic on Farrington Road, Chapel Hill.


Services

An EEG is like a special camera for your brain. It uses tiny pads on your head to listen to the electrical signals your brain makes. This helps doctors see how your brain is working.
An Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) is a special hospital room where doctors watch you closely to understand your seizures. They use cameras and special brainwave tests, like EEGs, to learn more about what’s happening.
EEG (Electroencephalogram): This is like taking a short picture of your brainwaves. It records your brain’s electrical activity for a short time, usually around 30 minutes.

Continuous EEG: This is like a long movie of your brainwaves. It records your brain activity for a longer period, often for days.

Continuous EEG allows doctors to see how your brain activity changes over time, which can be very helpful in understanding seizures.

Evoked potentials are like tiny electrical signals your brain makes when it receives a specific input. Doctors use special equipment to measure these signals. This helps them understand how your brain is processing information from your senses (like sight, sound, and touch).

Evoked potential tests can help doctors diagnose conditions that affect your nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis or nerve damage.

Interoperative neuromonitoring is when doctors use a special set of imaging tools during a patient’s surgery to make monitor brain and nerve signaling. By monitoring the brain and nerves during surgery, doctors can make adjustments as needed to ensure the best possible outcome for the patient.
Functional corticography and language mapping are special techniques used during brain surgery to identify and protect important areas of the brain, especially those involved in language.

Functional corticography and language mapping minimize the risk of surgical complications. By carefully mapping and avoiding important brain areas, surgeons can reduce the risk of post-surgical complications like speech problems.

The intracranial amytal test, also known as the Wada test, is a specialized medical procedure used to determine which side of the brain (hemisphere) controls language and memory functions.

The Wada test is help surgeons plan brain surgeries, especially those involving areas of the brain important for language and memory.

Ictal SPECT studies are a type of brain scan used to help locate the area of the brain where seizures occur by measuring blood flow in the brain during a seizure.

Ictal SPECT scans help doctors pinpoint the location of the seizure, which is important for planning epilepsy surgery. The scan can be helpful in cases where other tests, such as EEGs, have not clearly identified where in the brain the seizures are occurring.