Research

Indiana University School of Medicine research scientists in the Department of Neurological Surgery are passionate about developing innovative techniques and increasing the success of proven treatments to give patients the best chance for healing and recovery.

Whether through clinical and laboratory research projects or involvement in multi-center clinical trials and databases, neurological surgery faculty researchers dedicate their life’s work to advancing treatment solutions in this critical area of medicine.

Clinical Trials

Faculty in the Department of Neurological Surgery are participating researchers in several nationwide clinical trials. Current investigations:

  • I-MiND (Mitesh V. Shah, MD)
    I-MiND (IMRIS Multi-Center iMRI Neurosurgery Database) is a registry of prospectively and retrospectively collected data intended to foster collaborative research on topics related to the use of the IMRIS Visius Surgical Theater. This initiative is a collaboration with many academic and private hospitals, including the lead site, Washington University in St. Louis.

    Investigator: Mitesh V. Shah, MD
    Population enrolled: Any neurosurgical patient undergoing surgery utilizing the iMRIS technology

  • DESI (Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol, MD, MSc, MBA)
    This study explores the translational abilities of desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) to identify cancerous versus noncancerous tissue during brain tumor resection in the operative setting. Acollaboration with Purdue University, DESI is focused on the evaluation of intraoperative desorption electrospray ionization—mass spectrometry for detection of biomolecules indicative of cancerous versus noncancerous disease state in brain tumors using pathology biopsies.

    Investigator: Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol, MD, MSc, MBA
    Funded by: National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health
    Population enrolled: patients with glioma brain tumors

  • Epilepsy (Thomas C. Witt, MD)
    The purpose of the Multimodal Integrated Neuroimaging- Hyperspectral Imaging of Brain Activity and Connectivity in Epilepsy study is to improve the accuracy of fMRI scans to enhance their ability to map the connections from one part of the brain to another.

    Investigator: Thomas C. Witt, MD
    Funded by: National Institutes of Health
    Population enrolled: Epilepsy patients undergoing surgical implantation of subdural (brain) electrodes

  • ENRICH (Mitesh V. Shah, MD)
    The ENRICH (Early MiNimally invasive Removal of ICH) study is a multi-center, randomized clinical trial that compares standard medical management to early (less than 24 hours) surgical hematoma evacuation using minimally invasive parafascicular surgery in the treatment of acute spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage.

    Investigator: Mitesh V. Shah, MD
    Sponsor: NICO Corporation
    Population enrolled: Intracranial hemorrhage