Michael R. Sperling, MD

Contact Dr. Sperling

900 Walnut St.

Philadelphia, PA 19107

(215) 955-1222
(215) 503-2481 fax

How Can We Improve Our Understanding of Epilepsy and the Consequences of this Condition?

The research program in the Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center is multifaceted, reflecting the interests of the ten faculty members in the center. We are investigating various aspects of epilepsy, including novel treatments, autonomic effects of seizures, electrophysiology of seizures, new approaches to neuroimaging, and developing improved methods of prognostication in epilepsy. Pharmacologic studies investigate the metabolic consequences of antiepileptic medication, with specific attention to serologic markers of vascular risk. Neuroimaging studies are exploring connections between different brain areas in epilepsy, cognitive organization, memory, and language function in epilepsy. Electrographic studies of seizures hope to improve methods for mapping seizure spread within the brain with the goal of defining abnormal circuitry in epilepsy. Autonomic studies investigate cardiac rhythm disturbances in epilepsy, with companion epidemiologic studies of mortality in epilepsy. Long-term outcome studies of epilepsy surgery explore the consequences of cortical resection for this condition in medical, cognitive, linguistic, and psychosocial domains.

The techniques used in our research are those used in clinical studies, including MRI, fMRI, EEG, metabolic and pharmacologic measures, and epidemiologic methods.

Publications

Most recent Peer-reviewed Publications

1. Suicidal ideation and behavior screening in intractable focal epilepsy eligible for drug trials
2. Radiosurgery for the treatment of dominant hemisphere periventricular heterotopia and intractable epilepsy in a series of three patients
3. Decoding the memorization of individual stimuli with direct human brain recordings
4. A clinical study of syndromes of idiopathic (genetic) generalized epilepsy
5. Synchronous and asynchronous theta and gamma activity during episodic memory formation
6. Seizure recurrence and remission after switching antiepileptic drugs
7. Impedance variations over time for a closed-loop neurostimulation devi Early experience with chronically implanted electrodes
8. The functional anatomy of non-verbal (pitch memory) function in left and right anterior temporal lobectomy patients
9. An investigation of implicit memory through left temporal lobectomy for epilepsy
10. Intracranial EEG in predicting surgical outcome in frontal lobe epilepsy
11. Functional connectivity evidence of cortico-cortico inhibition in temporal lobe epilepsy
12. Long-term cardiac rhythm and repolarization abnormalities in refractory focal and generalized epilepsy
13. Age of onset in idiopathic (genetic) generalized epilepsies: Clinical and EEG findings in various age groups
14. Twiddler's syndrome in a patient with epilepsy treated with deep brain stimulation
15. Spontaneously reactivated patterns in frontal and temporal lobe predict semantic clustering during memory search
16. Progesterone vs placebo therapy for women with epilepsy: A randomized clinical trial
17. B-Vitamin deficiency in patients treated with antiepileptic drugs
18. Twiddler's syndrome in a patient with epilepsy treated with deep brain stimulation
19. Extratemporal functional connectivity impairments at rest are related to memory performance in mesial temporal epilepsy
20. Early surgical therapy for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy: A randomized trial

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