Local Doctor Working to Develop a New Drug to Avoid Invasive Brain Surgeries

Press Release

Dr. Ramin Eskandari, an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Medical University of South Carolina has been awarded an Innovator Award grant from the Hydrocephalus Association. The grant will fund his research in developing new treatments that do not require invasive brain surgery to manage hydrocephalus.

His study is focused on developing a new drug, PSel-Crry 2.3, that will reduce neuroinflammation and post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus, leading to improved functional recovery.

Hydrocephalus Association-funded scientists are leading the way with research to help find a cure for hydrocephalus. Research projects focused on children, adult hydrocephalus and the diagnosis and management of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), which is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease.

Top 10 Facts about Hydrocephalus:

1. Hydrocephalus is a life-threatening condition that affects approximately 1 million Americans. And anyone, at any age, can develop hydrocephalus.
2. One out of every 770 babies will develop hydrocephalus, making it as common as Down’s syndrome and more common than spina bifida or brain tumors.
3. There is no way to prevent hydrocephalus and there is no cure. The only known treatment requires brain surgery.
4. Hydrocephalus is the most common reason for brain surgery in children.
5. The most common surgical treatment for hydrocephalus is the implantation of a device called a shunt to drain fluid from the brain.
6. An estimated 50% of shunts in the pediatric population fail within two years of placement and repeated neurosurgical operations are often required.
7. An estimated 50% of shunts in the pediatric population fail within two years of placement and repeated neurosurgical operations are often required.
8. Hydrocephalus and a shunt can mean a lifetime of multiple brain surgeries. Dozens of brain surgeries are common and 100 or more is not unheard of.
9. An estimated 800,000 older Americans are believed to have NPH, but often are misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or dementia. When correctly diagnosed and treated, the patient often can return to full functioning!
10. Accurately diagnosing adult hydrocephalus would save Medicare in excess of $184M over five years.

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ABOUT THE HYDROCEPHALUS ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1983 by parents of children with hydrocephalus, the Hydrocephalus Association has grown to become the nation’s largest and most widely respected organization dedicated to hydrocephalus. The Hydrocephalus Association began funding research in 2009. Since then, HA has committed over $13 million to research, making it the largest nonprofit, non-governmental funder of hydrocephalus research in the U.S. For more information, visit www.hydroassoc.org or call (888) 598-3789.

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