Ramin Eskandari, MD

2009 Mentored Young Investigator Award Recipient

TITLE: Clinical Instructor of Neurosurgery, Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital

STUDY TITLE: Early versus late CSF drainage treatment in experimental neonatal hydrocephalus. 

Overview:

Dr. Eskandari was a resident neurosurgeon at the University of Utah at the time of his award.  He is currently a clinical instructor and neurosurgeon at Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. He received a B.S. in biology from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in medical sciences and an M.D. from Wayne State University.

The investigators hypothesize that delayed reservoir placement for treatment of neonatal hydrocephalus has consequences that can be measured through MRI-imaging, CSF evaluation, neurological assessment, and examination of brain tissue. Initial results indicated that it did not change the course of ventriculomegaly whether the animals had early or late placement. Another result indicated that tapping the reservoir based on neurological deficit (current practice tends to favor waiting for signs of elevated ICP and neurologic deficit before treatment with temporary CSF drainage) does not halt progression of ventricular enlargement and that neurologic deficit correlates strongly with ventricular enlargement.

MENTOR: James P (Pat) McAllister, PhD