ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT00060541Updated Nov 10, 2026

Evaluation and Treatment of Neurosurgical Disorders

An observational study in Neurologic Disorders, sponsored by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 4 Years to 99 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-10.

Sponsored by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jun 2003; still recruiting 23 years 5 months later.
Updated Sep 29, 2026Study contact changedGo to Updates ↓
Study type
Observational
Model
Case-only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
5,000
Ages
4 Years to 99 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Objective: This protocol is designed to allow the Surgical Neurology Branch to evaluate and treat the neurosurgical disorders of protocol participants. The participants will receive standard-of-clinical-care evaluation and treatment. The clinical data and samples generated during standard of care treatment will be collected as part of this study.

Study Population: Participants 4 years of age and older with neurosurgical-related conditions, who are seeking care from or referred to the Surgical Neurology Branch for evaluation, are eligible for this protocol.

Study Design: This is an observational study. Participants will receive standard-of-clinical-care evaluation and treatment for their neurosurgical condition. Clinical evaluation may include laboratory and radiological studies designed to aid in diagnosis or differential diagnosis of the participant s condition or to facilitate treatment. The evaluations may take place in the outpatient clinic areas or in the inpatient units. Some participants will receive standard-of-care medical or surgical treatment for their disorder. Clinical data, tissue samples or body fluids obtained during standard of care treatment, may be used for research. Additional genetic testing may be performed on subjects and their blood relatives if a genetic mechanism underlying the neurological disorder is suspected. Patients in this study may choose to consent to skin biopsies for research purposes, in which case they will sign an additional consent document for this research procedure.

Outcome Measures: No additional research outcome measures will be tracked in this study, as this study is collecting data for potential future use. All outcomes will be those of standard clinical evaluation and treatment. A clinical and research database will be kept of patient s diagnosis, progression, and treatment. Clinical database information may be reported or be used in other studies.

Read the detailed description

Objective: This protocol is designed to allow the Surgical Neurology Branch to evaluate and treat the neurosurgical disorders of protocol participants. The participants will receive standard-of-clinical-care evaluation and treatment. The clinical data and samples generated during standard of care treatment will be collected as part of this study.

Study Population: Participants 4 years of age and older with neurosurgical-related conditions, who are seeking care from or referred to the Surgical Neurology Branch for evaluation, are eligible for this protocol.

Study Design: This is an observational study. Participants will receive standard-of-clinical-care evaluation and treatment for their neurosurgical condition. Clinical evaluation may include laboratory and radiological studies designed to aid in diagnosis or differential diagnosis of the participant s condition or to facilitate treatment. The evaluations may take place in the outpatient clinic areas or in the inpatient units. Some participants will receive standard-of-care medical or surgical treatment for their disorder. Clinical data, tissue samples or body fluids obtained during standard of care treatment, may be used for research. Additional genetic testing may be performed on subjects and their blood relatives if a genetic mechanism underlying the neurological disorder is suspected. Patients in this study may choose to consent to skin biopsies for research purposes, in which case they will sign an additional consent document for this research procedure.

Outcome Measures: No additional research outcome measures will be tracked in this study, as this study is collecting data for potential future use. All outcomes will be those of standard clinical evaluation and treatment. A clinical and research database will be kept of patient s diagnosis, progression, and treatment. Clinical database information may be reported or be used in other studies.

02

Conditions studied

  • Neurologic Disorders

Keywords

  • Brain Tumor
  • Epilepsy
  • Pituitary Adenoma
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Spinal Cord Tumor
  • Natural History
03

In context

Nervous System Diseases

757 studies on the registry are indexed under Nervous System Diseases; 218 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 5,000 is above the median of 150 across 228 observational studies indexed under Nervous System Diseases.

Browse Nervous System Diseases studies →

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is the lead sponsor of 601 studies on the registry; 56 are open to participants now.

Of its 18 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 8 (44%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
4 Years to 99 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Subjects with a variety of neurosurgical disorders who require standard neurosurgical treatment; immediate blood relatives of those subjects in whom genetic testing is performed

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Participants must be age 4 and older.

    1. Participants must seek care from, or be referred to the Surgical Neurology Branch for evaluation and management of neurosurgical conditions (such as central nervous system tumors, peripheral nerve tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson s disease, movement disorders, Chiari syndrome, central nervous system malformations, and pain disorders)
    2. For adults: able to provide or having a legally-authorized representative to provide consent, if incapacitated
    3. For minors: a parent or legal guardian who is able to provide consent.

      For immediate blood relatives of subjects having genetic testing only:

    4. Blood relative of a subject who is suspected to have a genetic mechanism underlying their neurological disorder (for genetic testing only).

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

1. Patients who are unable to undergo evaluation and treatment for a neurosurgical disorder

3.c. Participant Inclusion Criteria for the cohort with processing of biological samples only (for those subjects who are only having skin and/or saliva samples)

  1. Participants must be age 4 and older.
  2. Participants must seek care from or be referred to the Surgical Neurology Branch for evaluation and management of neurosurgical conditions (such as central nervous system tumors, peripheral nerve tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson s disease, movement disorders, Chiari syndrome, central nervous system malformations, and pain disorders)
  3. For adults: able to provide or having a legally-authorized representative to provide consent, if incapacitated
  4. For minors: a parent or legal guardian who is able to provide consent.
  5. Be willing to consent for collection of clinical data or biological samples or their cryopreservation

3.D. Participant Exclusion Criteria for the cohort with processing of biological samples only (for those subjects who are only having skin biopsies and/or saliva samples)

  1. Patients who are unable to undergo evaluation and treatment for a neurosurgical disorder
  2. At the time of enrollment, subjects without an established diagnosis of a wellcharacterized disease entity with validated treatment algorithms. In such cases, proposed resource investment, in the opinion of the investigators, would not contribute to further advancement of knowledge
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

05

Study design

Observational model
Case-only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
5,000 participants (estimated)

Groups and cohorts

  • Patients

    Patients age 4 or older who are seeking care from or being referred to the Surgical Neurology Branch for evaluation, and management of neurosurgical conditions

    Procedure: Laboratory tests · Procedure: Radiological exams

Interventions

  • ProcedureLaboratory tests
  • ProcedureRadiological exams
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. standard clinical evaluation and treatment

    standard clinical evaluation and treatment

    Time frame: ongoing

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
    Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
    Recruiting
    • For more information at the NIH Clinical Center contact Office of Patient Recruitment (OPR) · Contactccopr@nih.gov · 800-411-1222
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Walker RL 3rd, Laws MT, Kim HJ, Zalewski C, Asthagiri A, Ranganathan S, Hayes C, Heiss JD, Butman JA, Chittiboina P. Intralabyrinthine MRI FLAIR as a predictive marker for hearing loss in vestibular schwannomas in Neurofibromatosis Type 2. J Neurooncol. 2026 Jan 26;176(3):182. doi: 10.1007/s11060-026-05422-9. PubMed 41586863 ↗
  • Curry BP, Alvarez R, Widemann BC, Johnson M, Agarwal PK, Lehky T, Valera V, Chittiboina P. Robotic Nerve Sheath Tumor Resection With Intraoperative Neuromonitoring: Case Series and Systematic Review. Oper Neurosurg. 2022 Feb 1;22(2):44-50. doi: 10.1227/ONS.0000000000000051. PubMed 35007270 ↗
  • Boyle J, Patronas NJ, Smirniotopoulos J, Herscovitch P, Dieckman W, Millo C, Maric D, Chatain GP, Hayes CP, Benzo S, Scott G, Edwards N, Ray Chaudhury A, Lodish MB, Sharma S, Nieman LK, Stratakis CA, Lonser RR, Chittiboina P. CRH stimulation improves 18F-FDG-PET detection of pituitary adenomas in Cushing's disease. Endocrine. 2019 Jul;65(1):155-165. doi: 10.1007/s12020-019-01944-7. Epub 2019 May 6. PubMed 31062234 ↗
  • Saldarriaga C, Lyssikatos C, Belyavskaya E, Keil M, Chittiboina P, Sinaii N, Stratakis CA, Lodish M. Postoperative Diabetes Insipidus and Hyponatremia in Children after Transsphenoidal Surgery for Adrenocorticotropin Hormone and Growth Hormone Secreting Adenomas. J Pediatr. 2018 Apr;195:169-174.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.11.042. Epub 2018 Feb 1. PubMed 29395172 ↗
  • Chatain GP, Patronas N, Smirniotopoulos JG, Piazza M, Benzo S, Ray-Chaudhury A, Sharma S, Lodish M, Nieman L, Stratakis CA, Chittiboina P. Potential utility of FLAIR in MRI-negative Cushing's disease. J Neurosurg. 2018 Sep;129(3):620-628. doi: 10.3171/2017.4.JNS17234. Epub 2017 Oct 13. PubMed 29027863 ↗
  • Lu J, Chatain GP, Bugarini A, Wang X, Maric D, Walbridge S, Zhuang Z, Chittiboina P. Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor SAHA Is a Promising Treatment of Cushing Disease. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2017 Aug 1;102(8):2825-2835. doi: 10.1210/jc.2017-00464. PubMed 28505327 ↗
  • Yong RL, Wu T, Mihatov N, Shen MJ, Brown MA, Zaghloul KA, Park GE, Park JK. Residual tumor volume and patient survival following reoperation for recurrent glioblastoma. J Neurosurg. 2014 Oct;121(4):802-9. doi: 10.3171/2014.6.JNS132038. Epub 2014 Jul 25. PubMed 25061868 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — This study is not a clinical trial. This study design is not compatible with clinical data sharing.

09

Timeline

10 registry updates since Sep 25, 2026

Started Jun 2003 (actual).

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
May 7, 2003
First posted
May 7, 2003
StartActual
Jun 4, 2003
Last update
Nov 10, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
Contact
Study contact's phone or email changed: s•••@nih.gov→n•••@ninds.nih.gov. See the current contact
Sep 29, 2026
Show all 10 updates
  1. Nov 10, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  2. Nov 9, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  3. Nov 5, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  4. Nov 3, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  5. Oct 29, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  6. Oct 16, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  7. Oct 13, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  8. Oct 8, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description
  9. Sep 29, 2026
    Contact Study contact's phone or email changed: s•••@nih.gov→n•••@ninds.nih.gov. See the current contact
  10. Sep 28, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: description

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00060541
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 7, 2003
Start date
Jun 4, 2003
Last update
Nov 10, 2026

Study contacts

Surgical Neurology Branch
Contact
nindsdir-snbrecruiti@ninds.nih.gov
(301) 496-2921
John D Heiss, M.D.
principal investigator · National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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