Meningioma Mommas has chosen Stanford University as its latest grant recipient. Meningioma Mommas awarded a $10,000 award to neurosurgeon and researcher, Dr. Melanie Hayden Gephart for her project, Gadolinium-based Contrast and Meningioma Monitoring.
Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA) are a class of intravenous drugs commonly used to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. GBCA aid in the detection and monitoring of brain tumors, including meningiomas. GBCA also carry a black box warning from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) because of the potential for gadolinium to deposit in tissue and cause widespread skin and organ scarring in patients.
Currently, the standard care for patients with meningiomas is to receive, at regular intervals, an MRI with both contrast and non-contrast images. This project will pursue healthier contrast alternatives to reduce the risk of skin and organ scarring due to gandolinium exposure.
The results of this study will benefit the meningioma patient population by reducing unnecessary contrast administration, thereby reducing the potential for adverse events. It will also reduce costs associated with MRI, due to fewer sequences and decreased imaging time.
As a practicing surgeon at Stanford, Dr. Hayden takes care of meningioma patients firsthand and strongly believes in making surgery and follow-up as safe as possible for her patients. Brain tumors have affected her friends and family directly, further cementing her commitment to serving this patient population.
Meningioma Mommas is thrilled to collaborate with Dr. Hayden and her dedicated team.