Jay Riva-Cambrin, MD, MSc

2010 Mentored Young Investigator Award Recipient

TITLE: Associate Professor, University of Utah/Primary Children’s Hospital

STUDY TITLE: In children presenting with hydrocephalus, is ventricular size associated with neuropsychological outcomes: Proposal for a phase II clinical study.

Overview:

Dr. Riva-Cambrin is an associate professor and pediatric neurosurgeon at the University of Utah and Primary Children’s Hospital. Since the MYI award, Dr. Riva-Cambrin has received tenure and is Director of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Fellowship Program at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is also the Medical Director of the Neurotrauma Unity at Primary Children’s Hospital and is a primary investigator for the Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network. Dr. Riva-Cambrin received a BSc in pharmacology and a MD from the University of Alberta and an MSc in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto.

The literature is inconclusive regarding the direct association between large ventricle size and poorer cognitive outcomes as these studies had design issues such as being retrospective, containing confounding variables, and only studying varying sub-populations of hydrocephalus. We propose a prospective multi-center study where we will examine this relationship between ventricle size and neuropsychological testing 6 months after the hydrocephalus was treated. The study will focus only on school-age children, ages 5-17, with new diagnoses of hydrocephalus from any primary cause. The children will also have neuropsychological testing before their hydrocephalus is treated as a source for comparison.

MENTOR: John Kestle, MD