Epilepsy Research

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Summary

Translational Research

Dr. Motamedi’s translational research focuses on seizure onset localization, and optimizing the stimulation parameters during cortical stimulation for brain mapping purposes in patients undergoing epilepsy surgery. His research also evaluates the changes in the autonomic system associated with seizures, the role of EEG in clinical conditions such as psychosis, studying different types of EEG discharges and their clinical correlations, comparing the efficacy of monotherapy and polytherapy in patients with epilepsy. Another clinical research project in collaboration with collaborators at Georgetown and other centers involves testing a new type of EEG electrode that may improve the accuracy of EEG in detecting seizure discharges. The possibility of diagnosing presymptomatic autistic children, and to recognize seizure onset in advance in patients with epilepsy, is being explored through quantification of subtle changes in EEG phase synchrony in the developing brain. Dr. Motamedi is also studying the role of high frequency oscillations (HFOs) in epilepsy and cognitive processing; this work is done in collaboration with Dr. Medvedev.

Basic Research

Dr. Motamedi’s basic research includes experimenting in animal models of epilepsy to evaluate the mechanisms of action, and the effects of hypothermia in seizures as a possible treatment in the near future. This research is conducted at Professor Stefano Vicini’s lab at Georgetown. Also, studying Sleep disorders and insomnia has led to preliminary work on exploring brain stimulation as a potential treatment for insomnia in collaboration with Professor Wu’s lab at Georgetown.

Studying Sleep disorders and insomnia has led to preliminary work on exploring brain stimulation as a potential treatment for insomnia.

Research Team

Principal Investigator: Gholam Motamedi, MD

Clinical Staff:

  • April Moore, RN (Epilepsy Nurse)

Research is also done by a dedicated group of Georgetown Residents and Medical students

Collaborators

Stefano Vicini, PhD
Georgetown University, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology

Michael Rogawski, MD, PhD
UC Davis, California, Chair, Department of Neurology

Ronald Lesser, MD
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Department of Neurology

Kimford Meador, MD
Emory University, Department of Neurology

Jian-young Wu, PhD
Georgetown University, Department of Neuroscience

Yong Won Cho, MD, PhD
Keimyung University, Taegu, Republic of Korea

Andrei Medvedev, PhD
Georgetown University, Department of Neurology

Kenta Takagaki, MD, PhD
Humboldt Foundation Fellow; Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Germany

Richard Morrissey, MD
Georgetown University Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology

Steven Epstein, MD
Georgetown University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry

Nawar Shara, PhD
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, MedStar Health Research Institute

Contact Information

Gholam Motamedi, MD
Professor, Department of Neurology
Georgetown University Hospital PHC 7
3800 Reservoir Rd, NW 7PHC
Washington, DC 20007
Phone: 202-444-1763
Fax: 202-444-4115

Publications

  1. Seok HY, Do SY, Motamedi GK, Cho YW. Symptom-related changes in current perception threshold of restless legs syndrome. Journal of Sleep Research. 2019 Jun 25:e12890. PMID: 31237744. DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12890.
  2. Wang T, Mayson DJ, Tornatore CS, Motamedi, GK. High frequency oscillations (HFOs) as a unique pattern of EEG in a patient with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Clinical Neurophysiology. 130 (2019) 1231–1234.
  3. Oyegbile T, VanMeter J, Motamedi GK, Bell W, Gaillard WB, D, Hermann B. Default Mode Network Deactivation in Pediatric Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Relationship to a Working Memory Task and Executive Function Tests. Epilepsy Behav. 2019 May;94:124-130. PMID: 30909075. DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2019.02.031.
  4. Cho YW, Kim KT, Motamedi GK, The first night effect during polysomnography, and patients’ estimates of sleep quality. Psychiatry Research. 2019 Apr;274:27-29. PMID: 30776709. DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.02.011.
  5. Stevens JM, Levine MR, Constantino AE, Motamedi GK. Case of fatal familial insomnia caused by a d178n mutation with phenotypic similarity to Hashimoto’s encephalopathy. BMJ Case Rep. 2018 Jul 15;2018. PMID: 30012679. DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2018-225155.
  6. Oyegbile T, Santos C, Zecavati N, Berkowitz F, Lee C, Motamedi G, VanMeter J, Gaillard WD, Hermann B. Executive Dysfunction is Associated with an Altered Executive Control Network in Pediatric Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2018 Sep;86:145-152. DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.04.022. PMID: 30001910.
  7. Anyanwu C, Motamedi GK. Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Drug-Resistant Epilepsy. Brain Sci. 2018, 8(4), 49. DOI:10.3390/brainsci8040049.
  8. Cho YW, Kang MS, Kim KT, Moon HG, Korostyshevskiy VP, Motamedi GK, Yang KI. Comorbid Insomnia with obstructive sleep apnea: clinical characteristics and risk factors. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(3):409417. DOI:10.5664/jcsm.6988. PMID: 29458695.
  9. Motamedi GK. Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: A disconnect between mind and body. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2018 Jan;78:293-294. PMID: 29239801. DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.10.016.
  10. Cho YW, Kang MS, Kim KT, Do SY, Lim JG, Lee SY, Motamedi GK. Quantitative sensory test for primary restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom Disease (RLS/WED) Using the Current Perception Threshold Test. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017 Feb;30:19-23. PMID: 28215248. DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2016.03.003.
  11. Motamedi GK. Obstructive sleep apnea; is it the anatomy or physiology?. Clinical Neurophysiology, 125 (2014) 1717–1718. PMID: 24594112. DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2014.02.004.
  12. Kim KT, Motamedi GK, Cho YW. Quality of life in patients with an idiopathic rapid eye movement sleeps behavior disorder in Korea. J Sleep Research. 2016 Dec 26. PMID: 28019055. DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12486.
  13. Wickwire EM, Williams SG, Roth T, Capaldi VF, Jaffe M, Moline M, Motamedi GK, Morgan GW, Mysliwiec V, Germain A, Pazdan RM, Ferziger R, Balkin TJ, MacDonald ME, Macek TA, Yochelson MR, Scharf SM, Lettieri CL. Sleep, sleep disorders, and mild traumatic brain injury – What we know and what we need to know: Findings from a national working group. Neurotherapeutics. 2016 Apr;13(2):403-17. PMC4824019. DOI: 10.1007/s13311-016-0429-3.
  14. Vitantonio D, Xu W, Geng X, Takagaki K, Motamedi GK, Wu JY. Emergence of dominant initiation sites for interictal spikes in rat neocortex. J Neurophysiol. 2015 Oct 7. PMC4868378. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00471.2014.
  15. Kim KT, Cho YW, Kim DE, Hwang SH, Song ML, Motamedi GK. Two Subtypes of Positional Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Supine-predominant and Supine-isolated OSA. Clinical Neurophysiology. 2015 Jun 16. PMID: 26116298. DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2015.06.009.
  16. Motamedi GK, Wheeler MG. Daily episodes of confusion altered behavior • chronic sleep deprivation • Dx? J Fam Pract. 2015 Feb;64(2):92-6.
  17. Motamedi GK. Obituary, Karen N. Gale, PhD (October 14, 1948–August 21, 2014). Epilepsy Behav. 2014 Dec;41:268-9. PMID: 25654144.
  18. Takagaki K, Morales MK, Vitantonio D, Berkowitz F, Bell WL, Kumar PN, Motamedi GK. Periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) in patients with neurosyphilis and HIV infection. Clin EEG Neurosci. 2014 Oct 17. PMID: 25326288.
  19. Takagaki K, Russell J, Lippert MT, Motamedi GK. Interhemispheric delay of alpha phase in autistic children. Clinical Neurophysiology. 2014 May 27. PMID: 24913702.
  20. Motamedi GK, Lesser RP, Vicini S. “Therapeutic brain hypothermia, its mechanisms of action, and its prospects as a treatment for epilepsy. ” Epilepsia. 2013 Jun;54(6):959-70.
  21. Vallabhaneni M, Baltassari L, Scribner JT, Cho YW, Motamedi GK. Wicket Spikes in Patients Undergoing Long-term Video-EEG Monitoring. Seizure, The European Journal of Epilepsy, 22 (2013) 14–19. PMID: 23041030.
  22. Anyanwu C, Ghavami F, Schuelein M, Motamedi GK. Ethosuximide induced conversion of typical childhood absence to Rolandic spikes. J Child Neurol. 2013 Jan;28(1), pp. 109–112. PMID: 22467741.
  23. Raybould JE, Alfers C, Cho YW, Wang H, Nawar S, Epstein SA, Motamedi GK. EEG Screening for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Patients with Acute Psychosis. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2012 Sep 1;24(4):452-7. PMID: 23224451.
  24. Anyanwu C, Motamedi GK. “Management of pediatric refractory epilepsy.” Journal of Pediatric Epilepsy 1; 203–209 (2012).
  25. Motamedi GK, Gonzalez-sulser A, Dzakpasu R, Vicini S. “Cellular mechanisms of desynchronizing effects of hypothermia in an in vitro epilepsy model.” Neurotherapeutics 9.1 (2012): 199-209.
  26. Enkiri SA, Ghavami F, Anyanwu C, Eldadah Z, Morrissey RL, Motamedi GK. “New onset left frontal lobe seizure presenting with ictal asystole .” Seizure 20.10 (2011): 817-9.
  27. Gonzalez-Sulser A, Wang J, Motamedi GK, Avoli M, Vicini S, Dzakpasu R. “The 4-aminopyridine in vitro epilepsy model analyzed with a perforated multi-electrode array.” Neuropharmacology 60.7-8 (2011): 1142-53.
  28. Cho YW, Kim DH, Motamedi GK. “The effect of levetiracetam monotherapy on subjective sleep quality and objective sleep parameters in patients with epilepsy: Compared with the effect of carbamazepine-CR monotherapy.” Seizure 20.4 (2011): 336-9.
  29. Ghosh P, Motamedi G, MD, Osborne B, Mora CA. “Reversible Blindness: Simple Partial Seizures Presenting as Ictal and Postictal Hemianopsia.” Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology 30.3 (2010): 272-5.
  30. Cho YW, Yi SD, Motamedi GK. “Frontal Lobe Epilepsy May Present as Myoclonic Seizure.” Epilepsy & Behavior 17.4 (2010): 561-564.
  31. Slezicki KI, Cho YW, Brock MS, Pfeiffer M, McVearry K, Tractenberg RE, Motamedi GK. “Incidence of atypical handedness in epilepsy and its association with clinical factors.” Epilepsy & Behavior 16.2 (2009): 330-4.
  32. Cho YW, Yi SD, Lim JG, Kim DK, Motamedi GK. “Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy and mild memory impairment associated with CHRNB2 mutation I312M in the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR).” Epilepsy & Behavior. 13.2 (2008): 361-5.
  33. Meador KJ, Gevins A, Loring DW, McEvoy LK, Ray PG, Smith ME, Motamedi GK, Evans BM. “Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Effects of Carbamazepine and Levetiracetam.” Neurology 69 (2007): 2076-84.
  34. Towfigh A, Mostofi N, Motamedi GK. “Post-stroke partial seizures presenting as hemifacial spasm.” Mov Disord. 22.13 (2007): 1981-2.
  35. Motamedi GK, Okunola O, Kalhorn CG, Mostofi N, Mizuno Matsumoto Y, Cho YW, Meador KJ. “Afterdischarges during cortical Stimulation at different frequencies and intensities.” Epilepsy Res. 77 (2007): 65-69.
  36. Ortinski PI, Turner JR, Barberis A, Motamedi G, Yasuda RP, Wolfe BB, Kellar KJ, Vicini S. “Deletion of the GABA(A) receptor alpha1 subunit increases tonic GABA(A) receptor current: a role for GABA uptake transporters.” J Neurosci. 26.36 (2006): 9323-31.
  37. Motamedi GK, Salazar P, Smith EL, Lesser RP, Webber WR, Ortinski PI, Vicini S, Rogawski MA. “Terrmination of epileptiform activity by cooling in rat hippocampal slice epilepsy models.” Epilepsy Res. 70.2-3 (2006): 200-10.
  38. Motamedi GK, Meador KJ. “Antiepileptic Drugs and Neurodevelopment.” Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 6.4 (2006): 341-6.
  39. Mizuno-Matsumoto Y, Motamedi GK, Webber WRS, Ishii R, Ukai S, Kaishima T, Shinosaki K, Lesser RP. “Wavelet-crosscorrelation analysis of electrocorticography recordings from epilepsy.” International Congress Series 1278 (2005): 411–414.
  40. Motamedi G, Meador K. “Epilepsy and cognition.” Epilepsy & Behavior 4 .Sup 2 (2003): 25-38.
  41. Cho YW, Motamedi GK, Laufenberg I, Sohn SI, Lim JG, Lee H, Yi SD, Lee H, Kim DK, Reba R, Gaillard WD, Theodore WH, Lesser RP, Steinlein OK. “A Korean Kindred with Autosomal Dominant Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy and Mental Retardation. Arch Neurol 60 (2003): 1625-1632.
  42. Mizuno-Matsumoto Y, Motamedi GK, Webber WRS, Ukai S, Date S, Kaishima T, Takeda M, Shimojo S, Inoue T, Lesser RP. “Effectiveness of brief bursts of pulse stimulation to terminate afterdischarges.” “Rinsyou Nouha” Japanese Clinical Electroencephalography 45.12 (2003): 773-777.
  43. Motamedi GK, Lesser RP. “Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy.” Adv Neurol 89 (2002): 463-73.
  44. Motamedi GK, Lesser RP, Miglioretti DL, Mizuno-Matsumoto Y, Gordon B, Webber WRS, Jackson DC, Sepkuty JP, Crone NC. Optimizing parameters for terminating afterdischarges with electrical stimulation of the cortex.” Epilepsia 43.8 (2002): 836-46.
  45. Mizuno-Matsumoto Y, Motamedi GK, Webber WR, Lesser RP. “Wavelet-crosscorrelation analysis can help predict whether bursts of pulse stimulation will terminate afterdischarges.” Clin Neurophysiol 113.1 (2002): 33-42. 

Articles in books

  1. Motamedi GK, Gotman J, Lesser RP. Technical and practical aspects of invasive recordings and brain stimulation. In: Lhatoo, Sam; Kahane, Philippe; Lüders, Hans, Editors. Invasive Studies of the Human Epileptic Brain: Principles and Practice of Invasive Brain Recordings and Stimulation in Epilepsy. Oxford University Press;1st Edition, 2018.
  2. Anyanwu C, Motamedi GK. Diagnosis and surgical treatment of epilepsy. In: Boling, Warren, Editor. Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Epilepsy. Brain Sciences; 1st Edition, 2018.
  3. Motamedi, GK. Epilepsy surgery and neurostimulation. In: Koubeissi MZ and Azar NJ, Editors. Epilepsy Board Review: A Comprehensive Guide. Springer; 1st ed. 2017 edition, 2018.
  4. Motamedi GK, Lesser RP. “Familial and Sporadic Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy (NFLE) – Electroclinical Features.” Epilepsy: The Intersection of Neurosciences, Biology, Mathematics, Engineering and Physics. Ed. Osorio I, Zaveri HP, Frei MG, Arthurs S. : CRC Press, 2011: 445-50
  5. Motamedi GK, Meador KJ. “Cognition.” Behavioral Aspects of Epilepsy: From Bench to Bedside. Ed. Schachter SC, Holmes GL, Kasteleijn-Nolst TD. New York, NY: Demos Medical Publishing, 2007.
  6. Motamedi GK, Lesser RP. “Prospects for developing electrical stimulation of the cortex for treatment of intractable seizures.” Epilepsy Surgery. Principles and Controversies. Ed. John W. Miller and Daniel L. Silbergeld. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis 
  7. Motamedi GK, Lesser RP: Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. In Advances in Neurology, Myoclonus and Paroxysmal Dyskinesias. Edited by S. Fahn, S. Frucht, M. Hallett, D. Truong. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002; 89:463-73.