Ramin Eskandari, M.D.

Associate ProfessorHeadshot of Dr. Eskandari
Department of Neurosurgery & Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery
Medical University of South Carolina

 

Darby Children’s Research Institute, Room BSB 645
173 Ashley Avenue
Charleston, SC, 29425

Email: eskandar@musc.edu

Education & Training:

University of Michigan, 1999, B.S. in Biology and Psychology and Philosophy
Wayne State University School of Medicine, 2002, M.S. in Biomedical Science
Wayne State University School of Medicine, 2006, M.D. in Medicine
University of Utah, Residency in Neurosurgery
Stanford University, Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery

Research Interests:

My clinical focus is on the surgical management of children with neurosurgical disorders of elevated intracranial pressure with hydrocephalus as well as other diseases of the central nervous system. I have utilized surgical treatment methods for pediatric hydrocephalus for the past 13 years and more so in infant population. Newer technology combined with improved surgical techniques has improved the surgical safety for hydrocephalic children, however the underlying brain injury mechanism have continued to elude surgeons and scientist treating them. In my laboratory, we focus our research on pressure-related pathophysiology of neonatal and pediatric hydrocephalus. To perform this research my laboratory works extensively with in-vivo animal model of neonatal and pediatric hydrocephalus. Based on results in these models, we have begun to address the question of how pressure injury could be just the first step in a cascade of brain injury mechanism. Our laboratory has invented a novel cell culture model of elevated intracranial pressure to better assess the earliest signs of cell injury from pathologic pressure changes. Preliminary results have demonstrated a very clear reaction of pediatric neurons to pathologically elevated pressure. Not only do neurons behave differently than astrocytes, but there is now evidence that they are more vulnerable to pathologic pressure injury, however the mechanism(s) remains elusive. Within the Darby Children’s Research Institute, my collaborators and I have been working to increase our knowledge on pressure-induced brain cell injury, knowing that non-surgical treatments could hinge on better understanding of these mechanisms.

Highlight Publications:

  • Eskandari R, McAllister JP, Miller JM, Ding Y, Ham SD, Shearer DM, Way JS, (2004), Effects of hydrocephalus and ventriculoperitoneal shunting on afferent and efferent connections of the feline sensorimotor cortex, J Neurosurg 101:196-210, PMID: 15835108.
  • Eskandari R, Harris C, McAllister JP II. (2011), Reactive astrocytosis in feline neonatal hydrocephalus: acute, chronic, and shunt-induced changes, Childs Nerv Syst 27(12): 2067-2076, PMID: 21847645.
  • Eskandari R, Packer M, Burdett EC, McAllister JP, (2012), Effect of delayed ventricular drainage on ventriculomegaly and neurological deficits in experimental neonatal hydrocephalus. Childs Nerv Syst, (11):1849-1861, PMID: 22767377. 
  • Eskandari R, Abdullah O, Mason C, Lloyd KE, Oeschle AN, McAllister JP, (2014), 2nd. Differential vulnerability of white matter structures to experimental infantile hydrocephalus detected by diffusion tensor imaging. Childs Nerv Syst., PMID:25070594.
  • Wright Z, Larrew TW, Eskandari R, (2016), Pediatric Hydrocephalus: Current State of Diagnosis and Treatment. Pediatr Rev., 37(11):478-490.
  • Smith ME, Eskandari R., (2017), A novel technology to model pressure-induced cellular injuries in the brain. J Neuroscience Methods, 293:247-253. PMID: 28993205.

Complete NCBI list: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1Wkd3_U-YmEQh/bibliography/40537790/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending