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Clinical Research

The Department of Neurosurgery at Westchester Medical Center is a recognized leader among the academic neurosurgery community and is heavily involved in research and publication. Investigators within Neurosurgery are involved in the conduct of basic, clinical, and translational research. WMC Neurosurgery clinical faculty perform diverse research within their specialties. Ongoing projects represent a broad range of clinical questions in neurosurgery, with a focus on surgical outcomes and risk factor stratification. Frailty, or the overall health status of elderly patients, is one of the innovative areas of ongoing investigation along with strategies for avoidance in traumatic brain injury (TBI), neuro-oncology, cerebrovascular and spinal surgery, and neurocritical care. There is also a focus on clinical outcomes of subarachnoid hemorrhage and acute ischemic stroke, as well as the development of practice guidelines in the rapidly evolving field of neuroendovascular surgery. The research effort is supported by the neurosurgery residents and fellows along with nearly 50 medical students with the goal of creating a world-class, grant funded research enterprise.

Our current research initiatives are as follows:

Institutional Research

  • Frailty and Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • Frailty and Subacute and Chronic Subdural Hematoma Requiring Evacuation
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • Demographics of Neurosurgical Transfers
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • Endovascular Management of Cerebral Aneurysms Using Pipeline Flow Diversion
    • PI: Justin G. Santarelli, MD
  • Frailty with Subdural Hemorrhage
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • The Role of Spectral CT in Differentiating Intracranial Hemorrhage and Contrast Media After Intra-arterial Intervention for Acute Ischemic Stroke
    • PI: Hasit Mehta, MD
  • Frailty & Neurological ICU Outcomes, Complications and Mortality
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • Frailty Index Scores of Intracranial Abscess Patients vs Control Tumor Patients
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • ICU RASS Sedation-Analgesia Guidelines and Compliance: Improving Management of Sedation-Analgesia Administration
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • The Prognostic Value of Frailty, BMI, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and Other Health-Associated Variables in Post-Surgical Spine Patients
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • The Utility of Spectral CT in Identifying Acute Thoracolumbar Spinal Compression Fractures
    • PI: Hasit Mehta, MD
  • Frailty and Ischemic Stroke Outcomes
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • Heparin Complications and Assessment of Outcomes in the Neurosurgical ICU
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • Assessment of Frailty in Predicting Outcomes and Complications for COVID-19 Patients Presenting to A Quaternary New York City Metropolitan Area Hospital
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  •  Effect of Frailty on Hemicraniectomy Outcomes
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  •  Spinal Epidural Abscess Patients Have Higher Modified Frailty Indices than Back Pain Patients Upon Emergency Room Presentation: A Retrospective Case Control Study
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  •  The Safety and Analgesic Efficacy of Cervical Multifidus Plane Block for Postoperative Pain after Chiari Decompression Surgery
    • PI: Jared Pisapia, MD
  •  Initial Real-World Safety and Efficacy Assessment of Surpass Streamline Flow Diverter in the US
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • Changes in Brain Imaging Order Patterns Over Time and Correlation with Implementation of the “Image Gently” Campaign
    • PI: Rachana Tyagi, MD
  • Management of Traumatic Thoracolumbar injury: Prospective Database
    • PI: Merritt Kinon, MD
  • Transfer timing for traumatic spinal cord injuries to a tertiary trauma center in New York State and its impact on patient outcomes
    • PI: Merritt Kinon, MD

Sponsored Research Trials

  • SELECT2: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Optimize Patient’s Selection for Endovascular Treatment in Acute Ischemic Stroke
    • NCT03876457
    • Sponsor: University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD
  • MEMBRANE: Middle Meningeal Artery Embolization for the Treatment of Subdural Hematomas with TRUFILLR n-BCA
    • NCT04816591
    • Sponsor: Cerenovus
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • EMBOLISE: Embolization of Middle Meningeal Artery with ONYXTM Liquid Embolic System in the Treatment of Subacute and Chronic Subdural Hematoma
    • NCT04402632
    • Sponsor: Medtronic
    • PI: Justin Santarelli, MD
  • NECC: US IDE Study of the Contour NEurovasCular System™ for IntraCranial Aneurysm Repair
    • NCT04852783
    • Sponsor: Cereus Endovascular
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  • STERLING: A Prospective, Multi-Center, Single Arm Study to Obtain "Real World" Clinical Data and Characterize the Acute and Long-Term Performance of the Micrusframe and Galaxy Coils Including the Pulserider Aneurysm Neck Reconstruction Device for the Endovascular Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms.
    • NCT03642639
    • Sponsor: Cerenovus
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
  •  NovaSignal ICP: A Prospective Non-Invasive Study of Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity Morphology for Quantification of Intracranial Pressure
    • Sponsor: NovaSignal, Corporation
    • PI: Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD

Humanitarian Use Device Research

  • Wingspan Stent System w/ Gateway PTA Balloon Catheter
    • Sponsor: Stryker Neurovascular
    • PI: Chirag D. Gandhi, MD