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Updated: Aug 3, 2026
Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention
Published on: September 11, 2017
Focal cooling suppresses spontaneous epileptiform activity without changing the cortical motor threshold
Kameel M Karkar1, Paul A Garcia, Lisa M Bateman
1Department of Neurology University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, U.S.A. karkark@itsa.ucsf.edu
Purpose:
Focal cerebral cooling has been shown to reduce epileptiform activity in animals. There are, however, few reports of this phenomenon in humans.
Methods:
Electrocorticography was performed before resection of a right frontal tumor in a patient with partial seizures. Cold saline was applied to the interictal spike focus, and its effect on the epileptiform discharges was observed.
Results:
Application of cold saline to the spike focus resulted in a transient, complete cessation of spiking. This effect was reproduced with a second application of cold saline. The motor threshold for electrical stimulation remained unchanged during the application of saline.
Conclusions:
In this patient with tumor-related epilepsy, focal cooling of the cortex reproducibly abolished interictal epileptiform discharges without changing the motor threshold to electrical stimulation.
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