The Clinical Neuro-Oncology Lab's Research
From Patients to Numbers, and from Numbers to Patients
The goal of our Laboratory is to improve patients’ care and outcomes by analyzing clinical data from thousands of patients treated at our institution, with surgery as well as with other innovative treatments. While the following summarize some of the most important fields of interest for our team, we continue to be open to new fields of research in neuro-oncology.
Benign Tumors
(Meningioma, Vestibular Schwannoma, Paraganglioma)
Meningiomas, vestibular schwannomas and paragangliomas are among the most common benign brain tumors of the head. The treatment of such tumors involves several different disciplines in order to offer the most effective, yet minimally-invasive, treatment to our patients. The goal of our research is: to determine the potential improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of benign tumors, to reinforce the use of minimally-invasive techniques, to create an institutional and a national database of these tumors by collaborating with other institutions. Our long-term goal is to create algorithms assisting the clinician in making evidence-based decisions and to standardize the treatment protocols of benign brain tumors across different institutions.
Brain and Spine Metastases
Brain and spine metastases are the most common tumors of the central nervous system. Nowadays, minimally-invasive surgical and radiosurgical techniques progressively became more diffuse and replaced the most invasive techniques. The goal of our research is to determine the outcome of patients treated with minimally invasive techniques (i.e. Radiosurgery) and/or with new therapeutic agents.
Neurogenetic Syndromes
The neurogenetic syndromes are a rare group of genetic disorders, which, among the other organs, often affect the central nervous system, including: Tuberous Sclerosis, Neurofibromatosis, Sturge-Weber Syndrome, Schwannomatosis, Von-Hippel Lindau Syndrome, Hereditary Hemorrhagic Teleangectasia. Stanford hosts one of the largest neurogenetic programs in Neurogenetics, in the country. So, we feel the need and responsibility to offer the best possible treatments to our patients and to continue our research to improve our minimally-invasive techniques.
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Sandhu N, Benson K, Kumar KA, Eyben RV, Chang DT, Gibbs IC, Hancock SL, Meola A, Chang SD, Li G, Hayden-Gephart, M, Soltys SG, Pollom EL “Local control and toxicity outcomes of stereotactic radiosurgery for spinal metastases of gastrointestinal origin”. Journal of Neurosurgery. Spine, 1–8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3171/2020.1.SPINE191260 . PMID: 32114530
Arocho-Quinones EV, Lew SM, Handler MH, Tovar-Spinoza Z, Smyth M, Bollo R, Donahue D, Perry MS, Levy ML, Gonda D, Mangano FT, Storm PB, Price AV, Couture DE, Oluigbo C, Duhaime AC, Barnett GH, Muh CR, Sather MD, Fallah A, Wang AC, Bhatia S, Patel K, Tarima S, Graber S, Huckins S, Hafez DM, Rumalla K, Bailey L, Shandley S, Roach A, Alexander E, Jenkins W, Tsering D, Price G, Meola A, Evanoff W, Thompson EM, Brandmeir N; Pediatric Stereotactic Laser Ablation Workgroup. “Magnetic resonance-guided stereotactic laser ablation therapy for the treatment of pediatric brain tumors: a multiinstitutional retrospective study” J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2020 Mar 27:1-9. doi: 10.3171/2020.1.PEDS19496. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32217793
Fatima N, Pollom E, Soltys S, Chang SD, Meola A. “Stereotactic radiosurgery for head and neck paragangliomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis” Neurosurg Rev. 2020 Apr 21. doi: 10.1007/s10143-020-01292-5. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32318920
Fatima N, Ding VY, Han SS, Chang SD, Meola A. “Predictors of visual functional outcome following treatment for cavernous sinus meningioma” J Neurosurg. 2020 May 15:1-12. doi: 10.3171/2020.2.JNS193009. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32413851
Romanelli P, Chuang C, Meola A, Bodduluri RM, Adler JR Jr. “ZAP-X: A Novel Radiosurgical Device for the Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia”. Cureus. 2020 May 27;12(5):e8324. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8324. PMID: 32617203
Meola A, Chang SD. “Letter: Navigation-Linked Heads-Up Display in Intracranial Surgery: Early Experience”. Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown). 2018 Jun 1;14 (6):E71-E72. doi: 10.1093/ons/opy048. No abstract available. PMID: 29590481
Meola A, Chang, SD. “Bilateral Vestibular Schwannomas in Neurofibromatosis type 2.” N Engl J Med. 2018 Oct 11;379(15):1463 doi: 10.1056/NEJMicm1804944 PMID:30304657
Meola A, Rao J, Chaudhary N, Song G, Zheng X, Chang SD “Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) in Neurosurgery”. World Neurosurg. 2019 Feb 7. pii: S1878-8750(19)30291-8. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.01.180. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 30738942
Meola A, Chow KKH, Chang SD “In Reply: Commentary: Peritumoral Edema to Tumor Volume Ratio: A Strong Survival Predictor for Posterior Fossa Metastases”. Neurosurgery. 2019 Mar 1;84(3):E232. doi: 10.1093/neuros/nyy574. PMID: 30629229
Wu A, Jin MC, Meola A, Wong HN, Chang SD “Efficacy and toxicity of particle radiotherapy in WHO grade II and grade III meningiomas: a systematic review”. Neurosurg Focus. 2019 Jun 1;46(6):E12. doi: 10.3171/2019.3.FOCUS1967. PMID: 31153145
Fatima N, Meola A, Pollom EL, Soltys SG, Chang SD “Stereotactic radiosurgery versus stereotactic radiotherapy in the management of intracranial meningiomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis.”. Neurosurg Focus. 2019 Jun 1;46(6):E2. doi: 10.3171/2019.3.FOCUS1970 PMID: 31153149
Chow KKH, Meola A, Chang SD “Commentary: Peritumoral Edema/Tumor Volume Ratio: A Strong Survival Predictor for Posterior Fossa Metastases”. Neurosurgery. 2019 Jul 1;85(1):E18-E19. doi: 10.1093/neuros/nyy281. PMID: 29982666
Fatima N, Meola A, Pollom E, Chaudhary N, Soltys S, Chang S “Stereotactic radiosurgery in large intracranial meningiomas: a systematic review”. World Neurosurg. 2019 Sep;129:269-275. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.06.064. Epub 2019 Jun 19. Review.. PMID: 31226450
Fatima N, Meola A, Pollom E, Chang SD, , Soltys S “Stereotactic radiosurgery for large intracranial tumors”. World Neurosurg. 2019 Oct 9. pii: S1878-8750(19)32620-8. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.10.005. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31605862
The Clinical Neuro-oncology Lab
