Research
Members of the Division of Neurosurgery are committed to research that will translate to a better understanding of pediatric brain tumors. Dr. Tomita, for example, serves on numerous national and international committees. He is a full member of the internationally recognized Pediatric Oncology Group's Brain Tumor Core Committee and has served as the neurosurgical coordinator in various protocols.
Examples of the division's published research include:
- Long-term effects of the treatment of childhood brain tumors and survival patterns for pediatric brain tumor patients following various treatment methods.
- The surgical techniques and the epidemiology of pediatric brain tumors. Throughout his career, Dr. Tadanori Tomita has contributed to the advancement of pediatric neuro-oncology in more than 100 peer-reviewed papers. In 1979, former division head Dr. Anthony Ramondi, and Dr. Tomita were among the first authors to compare the results of partial versus total resection in childhood medulloblastoma. Furthermore, they were among the earliest groups to report on the long-term neurocognitive outcome in this group of patients.
- Work in 1983 with the then-innovative technique of intraoperative neurosurgical ultrasound localization of brain tumors for infants and children; this technique is now a regular part of a pediatric neurosurgeon's practices.
- Reduced-dose craniospinal irradiation for medulloblastoma. Dr. Tomita also has been involved in innovative studies using hyperfractionated radiation in brain stem gliomas, as well as a pilot study of hyperfractionated radiation for the treatment of medulloblastoma.
- Histologic and DNA-flow cytometric patterns in ependymomas of childhood, correlating the expression of the multi-drug resistance gene, immunohistochemical and molecular biologic studies, and outcomes. Dr. Tomita has also investigated multi-drug-resistant gene expression in childhood medulloblastoma and its correlation with clinical outcome. Additional work has examined the chromosomal translocation in malignant rhabdoid tumors of the central nervous system as well as cytogenetic abnormalities in pediatric brain tumors and their correlation with clinical outcome.
- Magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the evaluation of pediatric brain tumors using a gadoteridol injection (a nonionic Gadolinium contrast agent) in MR imaging of the central nervous system (with the neuroradiologists). Together they have also investigated the neurochemistry of brain maturation using the single voxile H-i MR spectroscopy.
- Expression of the bisecting oligosaccharide structure in pediatric brain tumors and its association with high-grade astrocytomas, along with its potential role in glioma cell resistance to cisplatin.