Neurologic Research and Clinical Trials

Research Programs for Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery in Children

With access to one of the world’s largest research programs, the neurosurgery team at Children’s Hospital’s Brain Care Institute conducts research and clinical trials to explore new applications for minimally invasive brain surgery techniques. If the past is any indication of the future, these experts will continue to innovate the field of endoscopic brain surgery and develop more and better techniques of using minimally invasive surgery to treat a wide range of neurologic conditions.

Here are just a few of UPMC’s achievements in the field of minimally invasive surgery:

  • First in the world to use nasal passages to reach deep-seated tumors and lesions that previously required disfiguring and potentially debilitating surgery.
  • Developed new applications for EEA and expanded on this technique, which was originally designed to reach pituitary tumors.
  • Has performed more than 175 pediatric EEA procedures.
  • First to remove a giant teratoma in a newborn patient endoscopically through the skull base using a modified EEA.
  • In collaboration with surgeons in Argentina, first to consistently use a vascularized nasoseptal flap for skull base reconstruction.
  • First to remove an arteriovenous malformation using EEA.
  • First to perform surgery for removal of the second vertebra using EEA.
  • First to move the pituitary using EEA to remove a tumor behind the pituitary.