See Dr. Singer's online video describing the early detection and care of patients with aneurysms by going here.
The Brain Aneurysm Foundation offers support and information for families on aneurysm etiology, treatment and long term care.Find out more here.
Research
The Blood-Brain Barrier
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Endothelial cells with tight junctions, the basement membrane, and astrocyte end feet are the essential components of the blood-brain barrier. These structures surround cerebral blood vessels to selectively exclude certain molecules from crossing between the blood and the brain based upon their size and charge. The Singer Lab studies the blood-brain barrier under a number of conditions and seeks to modulate it to improve clinical disease outcomes.
Pre-Clinical Research
Current stroke treatments focus on restoring blood flow to ischemic regions of the brain. When reperfusion occurs, however, hypoxia-induced changes at the cellular level put patients at a high risk for adverse events such as hemorrhage and edema. As of yet, there is no approved treatment for addressing the problems associated with reperfusion. One aim of the J.B. Marshall Laboratory for Neurovascular Therapeutics is to develop protective endovascular therapeutics to complement existing chemical and mechanical clot busting.
The J.B. Marshall Lab is also interested in opening the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to deliver therapies to the brain. By discriminately blocking agents based on size, charge and solubility, the BBB poses a challenge to both scientific investigation in the brain and the treatment of neurological diseases. Blood-brain barrier disruption (BBBD) seeks to safely and effectively open the BBB. Neuwelt and others in the BBBD Team at Oregon Health Sciences University have pioneered such a technique in animals and humans, thus opening an avenue for translational research into the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to treat malignant brain tumors and the delivery of drugs to functional CNS diseases.
Clinical Research
Subarachnoid hemorrhage is one of the greatest clinical challenges facing the Vanderbilt Neurovascular Surgery team. Within the first 30 days, mortality for this disease reaches 50%. Unfortunately, there are a limited number of tools available to predict which patients will progress well and which will experience adverse events such as vasospasm and hydrocephalus. J.B. Marshall Lab clinical research seeks to understand the characteristics of patients and treatments associated with various outcomes and predict therapies that may yield improved results.
