Muhammad Abd-El-Barr | Scholars@Duke

Muhammad Abd-El-Barr
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

As a Neurosurgeon with fellowship training in Spine Surgery, I have dedicated my professional life to treating patients with spine disorders. These include spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, scoliosis, herniated discs and spine tumors. I incorporate minimally-invasive spine (MIS) techniques whenever appropriate to minimize pain and length of stay, yet not compromise on achieving the goals of surgery, which is ultimately to get you back to the quality of life you once enjoyed. I was drawn to medicine and neurosurgery for the unique ability to incorporate the latest in technology and neuroscience to making patients better. I will treat you and your loved ones with the same kind of care I would want my loved ones to be treated with. In addition to my clinical practice, I will be working with Duke Bioengineers and Neurobiologists on important basic and translational questions surrounding spinal cord injuries (SCI), which we hope to bring to clinical relevance.

Current Research Interests

- Spinal Cord Injury
- Brain-Machine Interfaces
- Neuro-regeneration

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery 2017

Contact Information

m.abdelbarr@duke.edu

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Spine Surgery Fellowship, Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital 2016 - 2017
- Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital 2012 - 2016
- Internship and Residency, Neurosurgery, University of Florida 2009 - 2012
- MD./PhD., Baylor College of Medicine 2009
- M.S., University of Texas at Austin 2002
- B.A.Sc., University of Toronto (Canada) 2000
Expertise
Subject Headings
Global Scholarship
- Teaching
  - United States of America (Country)
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Conference Papers
  - Oyama, G, Thompson, AJ, Limotai, N, Maling, N, Abd-El-Barr, M, Foote, K, Subramony, SH, Ashizawa, T, and Okun, M. "Tailoring DBS treatment for tremor and dystonia associated with various ataxia syndromes: A case series." June 2012. Link to Item
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Hsu, ER, Anslyn, EV, Descour, MR, Lotan, R, Gillenwater, AM, and Richards-Kortum, RR. "Optical sectioning wide-field microscopy for imaging oral cancer." December 1, 2002.
- Journal Articles
  - Elsamadicy, AA, Ren, X, Kemeny, H, Charalambous, L, Sergesketter, AR, Rahimpour, S, Williamson, T, Goodwin, CR, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Gottfried, ON, Xie, J, and Lad, SP. "Independent Associations With 30- and 90-Day Unplanned Readmissions After Elective Lumbar Spine Surgery: A National Trend Analysis of 144 123 Patients." Neurosurgery (June 11, 2018). Full Text
  - Kessler, RA, De la Garza Ramos, R, Purvis, TE, Ahmed, AK, Goodwin, CR, Sciubba, DM, and Abd-El-Barr, MM. "Impact of frailty on complications in patients with thoracic and thoracolumbar spinal fracture." Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery 169 (June 2018): 161-165. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Huang, KT, Moses, ZB, Iorgulescu, JB, and Chi, JH. "Recent advances in intradural spinal tumors." Neuro Oncology 20, no. 6 (May 2018): 729-742. Full Text
  - Vasudeva, VS, Abd-El-Barr, M, Pompeu, YA, Karhade, A, Groff, MW, and Lu, Y. "Use of Intraoperative Ultrasound During Spinal Surgery." Global spine journal 7, no. 7 (October 2017): 648-656. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chi, JH. "From the Bottom Up: The Role of Sacral Pattern Generators in Modulating Rostral Lumbar Flexor Motor Neurons." Neurosurgery 81, no. 3 (September 2017): N28-N29. Full Text
  - Robertson, FC, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Mukundan, S, and Gormley, WB. "Ventriculostomy-associated hemorrhage: a risk assessment by radiographic simulation." Journal of neurosurgery 127, no. 3 (September 2017): 532-536. Full Text
  - Castro, VM, Dligach, D, Finan, S, Yu, S, Can, A, Abd-El-Barr, M, Gainer, V, Shadick, NA, Murphy, S, Cai, T, Savova, G, Weiss, ST, and Du, R. "Large-scale identification of patients with cerebral aneurysms using natural language processing." Neurology 88, no. 2 (January 2017): 164-168. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Snyder, BD, Emans, JB, Proctor, MR, and Hedequist, D. "Combined preoperative traction with instrumented posterior occipitocervical fusion for severe ventral brainstem compression secondary to displaced os odontoideum: technical report of 2 cases." Journal of neurosurgery. Pediatrics 25, no. 6 (December 2016): 724-729. Full Text
  - Abou-Al-Shaar, H, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Zaidi, HA, Russell-Goldman, E, Folkerth, RD, Laws, ER, and Chiocca, EA. "Frontal dermoid cyst coexisting with suprasellar craniopharyngioma: a spectrum of ectodermally derived epithelial-lined cystic lesions?." Neurosurgical focus 41, no. 6 (December 2016): E16-. Full Text
  - Liu, J, Abd-El-Barr, M, and Chi, JH. "Long-term Training With a Brain-Machine Interface-Based Gait Protocol Induces Partial Neurological Recovery in Paraplegic Patients." Neurosurgery 79, no. 6 (December 2016): N13-N14. Full Text
  - Moses, ZB, Ozpinar, A, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Quinonez, LG, Emani, SM, and Goumnerova, LC. "Direct heart shunt placement for CSF diversion: technical note." Journal of neurosurgery. Pediatrics 25, no. 6 (December 2016): 663-666. Full Text
  - Zeng, X, Han, I, Abd-El-Barr, M, Aljuboori, Z, Anderson, JE, Chi, JH, Zafonte, RD, and Teng, YD. "The Effects of Thermal Preconditioning on Oncogenic and Intraspinal Cord Growth Features of Human Glioma Cells." Cell transplantation 25, no. 12 (December 2016): 2099-2109. Full Text
  - Ropper, AE, Zeng, X, Haragopal, H, Anderson, JE, Aljuboori, Z, Han, I, Abd-El-Barr, M, Lee, HJ, Sidman, RL, Snyder, EY, Viapiano, MS, Kim, SU, Chi, JH, and Teng, YD. "Targeted Treatment of Experimental Spinal Cord Glioma With Dual Gene-Engineered Human Neural Stem Cells." Neurosurgery 79, no. 3 (September 2016): 481-491. Full Text
  - Hulou, MM, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Gormley, WB, Zamani, AA, Dunn, IF, and Al-Mefty, O. "The frequency and severity of intracranial hypotension post-intraoperative lumbar drainage using a Tuohy needle and the traditional needle." British journal of neurosurgery 30, no. 4 (August 2016): 438-443. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Huang, KT, and Chi, JH. "Infiltrating spinal cord astrocytomas: Epidemiology, diagnosis, treatments and future directions." Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia 29 (July 2016): 15-20. (Review) Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chi, JH. "New Targeted Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis." Neurosurgery 78, no. 4 (April 2016): N14-N15. Full Text
  - Huang, KT, Bi, WL, Abd-El-Barr, M, Yan, SC, Tafel, IJ, Dunn, IF, and Gormley, WB. "The Neurocritical and Neurosurgical Care of Subdural Hematomas." Neurocritical care 24, no. 2 (April 2016): 294-307. (Review) Full Text
  - Cowan, CS, Abd-El-Barr, M, van der Heijden, M, Lo, EM, Paul, D, Bramblett, DE, Lem, J, Simons, DL, and Wu, SM. "Connexin 36 and rod bipolar cell independent rod pathways drive retinal ganglion cells and optokinetic reflexes." Vision research 119 (February 2016): 99-109. Full Text
  - Rehder, R, Abd-El-Barr, M, Hooten, K, Weinstock, P, Madsen, JR, and Cohen, AR. "The role of simulation in neurosurgery." Child'S Nervous System : Chns : Official Journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery 32, no. 1 (January 2016): 43-54. (Review) Full Text
  - Donnelly, DJ, Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Lu, Y. "Minimally Invasive Muscle Sparing Posterior-Only Approach for Lumbar Circumferential Decompression and Stabilization to Treat Spine Metastasis--Technical Report." World Neurosurgery 84, no. 5 (November 2015): 1484-1490. Full Text
  - Vasudeva, VS, Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chi, JH. "Implantation of Neonatal Skin-Derived Precursor Schwann Cells Improves Outcomes After Incomplete Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Rats." Neurosurgery 77, no. 2 (August 2015): N15-N17. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Santos, SM, Aglio, LS, Young, GS, Mukundan, S, Golby, AJ, Gormley, WB, and Dunn, IF. ""Extraoperative" MRI (eoMRI) for Brain Tumor Surgery: Initial Results at a Single Institution." World Neurosurgery 83, no. 6 (June 2015): 921-928. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Vasudeva, VS, and Chi, JH. "All hands on deck: the importance of additional pathways in mediating recovery in spinal cord injury." Neurosurgery 76, no. 6 (June 2015): N12-N13. Full Text
  - Moses, ZB, Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chi, JH. "Timing is everything in corticospinal tract recovery after stroke." Neurosurgery 76, no. 4 (April 2015): N18-N19. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Bi, WL, Bahluyen, B, Rodriguez, ST, Groff, MW, and Chi, JH. "Extensive spinal epidural abscess treated with "apical laminectomies" and irrigation of the epidural space: report of 2 cases." Journal of neurosurgery. Spine 22, no. 3 (March 2015): 318-323. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chiocca, EA. "No free lunch: secondary neoplasms after stereotactic radiation." World neurosurgery 83, no. 3 (March 2015): 330-331. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Strong, CI, and Groff, MW. "Chiari malformations: diagnosis, treatments and failures." Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 58, no. 4 (December 2014): 215-221. (Review)
  - Vasudeva, VS, Abd-El-Barr, M, and Chi, J. "Lumbosacral spinal cord epidural stimulation enables recovery of voluntary movement after complete motor spinal cord injury." Neurosurgery 75, no. 6 (December 2014): N14-N15. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, M, and Groff, MW. "Looking through a crystal ball--the question of primarily fusing to the pelvis in adult degenerative scoliosis." World neurosurgery 82, no. 3-4 (September 2014): e451-e452. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chiocca, EA. "Who benefits from surgery for brain metastases?." World neurosurgery 82, no. 1-2 (July 2014): e115-e116. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Chiocca, EA. "How much is enough? The question of extent of resection in glioblastoma multiforme." World Neurosurgery 82, no. 1-2 (July 2014): e109-e110. Full Text
  - Tierney, TS, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Stanford, AD, Foote, KD, and Okun, MS. "Deep brain stimulation and ablation for obsessive compulsive disorder: evolution of contemporary indications, targets and techniques." The International Journal of Neuroscience 124, no. 6 (June 2014): 394-402. (Review) Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, M, and Groff, MW. "Less is more: limiting the size of posterior fossa decompressions in Chiari I malformations." World neurosurgery 81, no. 5-6 (May 2014): 706-707. Full Text
  - Oyama, G, Thompson, A, Foote, KD, Limotai, N, Abd-El-Barr, M, Maling, N, Malaty, IA, Rodriguez, RL, Subramony, SH, Ashizawa, T, and Okun, MS. "Deep brain stimulation for tremor associated with underlying ataxia syndromes: a case series and discussion of issues." Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.) 4 (January 2014): 228-. Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Saleh, E, Huang, RY, and Golby, AJ. "Effect of disease and recovery on functional anatomy in brain tumor patients: insights from functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging." Imaging in medicine 5, no. 4 (August 2013): 333-346. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, and Cohen, AR. "The origin and evolution of neuroendoscopy." Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery 29, no. 5 (May 2013): 727-737. (Review) Full Text
  - Viswanathan, A, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Doppenberg, E, Suki, D, Gokaslan, Z, Mendel, E, Rao, G, and Rhines, LD. "Initial experience with the use of an expandable titanium cage as a vertebral body replacement in patients with tumors of the spinal column: a report of 95 patients." European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society 21, no. 1 (January 2012): 84-92. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Wu, B, Rahman, M, Yachnis, AT, Roper, SN, and Eisenschenk, S. "Atypical Rasmussen's encephalitis treated with temporal lobectomy." Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia 18, no. 2 (February 2011): 287-290. Full Text
  - Rahman, M, Deleyrolle, L, Vedam-Mai, V, Azari, H, Abd-El-Barr, M, and Reynolds, BA. "The cancer stem cell hypothesis: failures and pitfalls." Neurosurgery 68, no. 2 (February 2011): 531-545. (Review) Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Cox, JB, Antonucci, MU, Bennett, J, Murad, GJA, and Pincus, DW. "Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 as an adjunct for spine fusion in a pediatric population." Pediatric neurosurgery 47, no. 4 (January 2011): 266-271. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Rahman, M, and Rao, G. "Investigational therapies for brain metastases." Neurosurgery clinics of North America 22, no. 1 (January 2011): 87-vii. (Review) Full Text
  - Abd-El-Basset, EM, and Abd-El-Barr, MM. "Effect of interleukin-1β on the expression of actin isoforms in cultured mouse astroglia." Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) 294, no. 1 (January 2011): 16-23. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Joseph, JR, Schultz, R, Edmonds, JL, Wilfong, AA, and Yoshor, D. "Vagus nerve stimulation for drop attacks in a pediatric population." Epilepsy & behavior : E&B 19, no. 3 (November 2010): 394-399. Full Text
  - Rahman, M, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Vedam-Mai, V, Foote, KD, Murad, GJA, Okun, MS, and Roper, SN. "Disrupting abnormal electrical activity with deep brain stimulation: is epilepsy the next frontier?." Neurosurgical focus 29, no. 2 (August 2010): E7-. (Review) Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Pennesi, ME, Saszik, SM, Barrow, AJ, Lem, J, Bramblett, DE, Paul, DL, Frishman, LJ, and Wu, SM. "Genetic dissection of rod and cone pathways in the dark-adapted mouse retina." Journal of Neurophysiology 102, no. 3 (September 2009): 1945-1955. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Albini, TA, Carvounis, PE, He, F, Manzano, RPA, Chevez-Barrios, P, Wensel, TG, Wu, SM, and Holz, ER. "Safety and pharmokinetics of triamcinolone hexacetonide in rabbit eyes." Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics : the Official Journal of the Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics 24, no. 2 (April 2008): 197-205. Full Text
  - Abd-El-Barr, MM, Sykoudis, K, Andrabi, S, Eichers, ER, Pennesi, ME, Tan, PL, Wilson, JH, Katsanis, N, Lupski, JR, and Wu, SM. "Impaired photoreceptor protein transport and synaptic transmission in a mouse model of Bardet-Biedl syndrome." Vision Research 47, no. 27 (December 2007): 3394-3407. Full Text
  - Pang, J-J, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Gao, F, Bramblett, DE, Paul, DL, and Wu, SM. "Relative contributions of rod and cone bipolar cell inputs to AII amacrine cell light responses in the mouse retina." The Journal of Physiology 580, no. Pt. 2 (April 2007): 397-410. Full Text
  - Albini, TA, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Carvounis, PE, Iyer, MN, Lakhanpal, RR, Pennesi, ME, Chevez-Barrios, P, Wu, SM, and Holz, ER. "Long-term retinal toxicity of intravitreal commercially available preserved triamcinolone acetonide (Kenalog) in rabbit eyes." Investigative ophthalmology & visual science 48, no. 1 (January 2007): 390-395. Full Text
  - Carvounis, PE, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Albini, TA, and Holz, ER. "Effects of intravitreous injection of preserved and non-preserved triamcinolone in rabbit retina." Archives of ophthalmology (Chicago, Ill. : 1960) 124, no. 11 (November 2006): 1666-. (Letter) Full Text
  - Eichers, ER, Abd-El-Barr, MM, Paylor, R, Lewis, RA, Bi, W, Lin, X, Meehan, TP, Stockton, DW, Wu, SM, Lindsay, E, Justice, MJ, Beales, PL, Katsanis, N, and Lupski, JR. "Phenotypic characterization of Bbs4 null mice reveals age-dependent penetrance and variable expressivity." Human Genetics 120, no. 2 (September 2006): 211-226. Full Text
  - Rahman, M, Abd-El-Barr, M, Mack, V, Tkaczyk, T, Sokolov, K, Richards-Kortum, R, and Descour, M. "Optical imaging of cervical pre-cancers with structured illumination: an integrated approach." Gynecologic oncology 99, no. 3 Suppl 1 (December 2005): S112-S115. Full Text
  - Utzinger, U, Bueeler, M, Oh, S, Heintzelman, DL, Svistun, ES, Abd-El-Barr, M, Gillenwater, A, and Richards-Kortum, R. "Optimal visual perception and detection of oral cavity neoplasia." IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering 50, no. 3 (March 2003): 396-399. Full Text

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Teaching

Selected Publications

Conference Papers

Journal Articles