Dr. Raghu Samala, Consultant Neurosurgeon

Dr. Raghu Samala

MBBS, M.S (General Surgery), M.Ch(Neurosurgery)

Consultant Neurosurgeon

Qualifications:

Graduate School- Osmania Medical College ( Passed MBBS in 2010)

Post-Doctoral Training- PGIMER ( Passed M.S General Surgery in 2014)

Post Graduate Training- AIIMS (Passed M.Ch. Neurosurgery in 2018)

Fellowship- AIIMS (in Epilepsy and Functional Neurosurgery -2019-2021)

Professional Synopsis:

Dr. Raghu Samala is a consultant neurosurgeon at AIG hospitals, who’s an innovative and exceptional thinker with 2 years of clinical experience in epilepsy and functional neurosurgery. He is proficient in robotic and frame-based neurosurgical planning and execution, with excellent social skills in pre and post-operative counseling. He completed his MBBS from Osmania Medical College in 2010, and M.S General surgery in 2014 from PGIMER. He underwent post-graduate training at AIIMS and completed his M. Ch. Neurosurgery in the year 2018. He then went on to do a fellowship in Epilepsy and Neurosurgery from AIIMS, with successful completion in the year 2021. Dr. Raghu Samala has worked as a senior resident and senior research scientist at AIIMS, New Delhi. He has won several awards for his oral paper presentations at the AIIMS neurotrauma conference, AIIMS annual spine conference, and DNACON along with many publications in reputed journals.

Experience:

  • Intern (House surgeon), Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, 2009-2010
  • Junior Resident, PGIMER, Chandigarh, 2012-2014
  • Senior Resident (Neurosurgical trauma), AIIMS, New Delhi, 2015
  • Senior Resident (M.Ch. Neurosurgery), AIIMS, New Delhi, 2016-2018
  • Fellow (Epilepsy and functional neurosurgery), AIIMS, New Delhi, 2019-2021
  • Senior Research Scientist -III, Centre of Excellence for Epilepsy- AIIMS, New Delhi, 2021
  • Spine Fellowship, Paras Hospital, Gurgaon
  • Neuroendovascular training, Max Hospital, Delhi

Areas of interest/expertise:

  • Lesional and non- lesional epilepsy
  • Disconnective surgeries like posterior quadrant disconnection and lobar disconnections
  • Endoscopic Assisted Hemispherotomy
  • Robotic Thermocoagulative Hemispherotomy (ROTCH)
  • Corpus Callosotomy
  • ECoG guided resections
  • SEEG
  • RF ablations using SEEG electrodes
  • Multiple Subpial Transections
  • Vagal Nerve Stimulation
  • RF lesioning of hypothalamic Hamartomas
  • Robotic stereotactic surgery
  • DBS for epilepsy
  • DBS for advanced Parkinson’s Disease
  • DBS for dystonia
  • RF ablation for Dystonia
  • DBS for Essential tremors
  • Baclofen pump placement for Spasticity
  • Surgery for spasticity
  • Surgery for uncontrolled brachialgia in brachial plexus injury
  • Spinal cord stimulation for spasticity
  • Surgery for psychiatric disorders

Awards and paper presentations:

  • 3rd Best Oral Paper Presentation – AIIMS Neurotrauma Conference, Oct, 2018
  • QUIZ- Second Prize- AIIMS Annual Spine Conference, 2017
  • 3rd Best Oral Paper Presentation- DNACON, 2020

Publications:

  1. Doddamani RS, Tripathi M, Samala R, Agrawal M, Ramanujam B, Bajaj J, Girishan S, Tripathi M, Bal CS, Garg A, Chandra PS. Hypothalamic Hamartoma and Endocrinopathy: A Neurosurgeon’s Perspective. Neurol India. 2020 May-Jun;68(Supplement):S146-S153. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.287681. PMID: 32611907.
  2. Samala R, Agrawal M, Garg K, Singh M. Letter to the Editor. The role of unilateral pallidotomy in cervical dystonia. J Neurosurg Spine. 2020 Sep 11:1-2. doi: 10.3171/2020.7.SPINE201200. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32916647.
  3. Agrawal M, Samala R, Doddamani R, Agrawal D, Chandra SP. The role of selective dorsal rhizotomy in the management of post-traumatic spasticity: systematic review. Neurosurg Rev. 2020 Feb 5. doi: 10.1007/s10143-020-01255-w. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32020384
  4. Kaur K, Chandra PS, Samala R, Agrawal M, Doddamani R, Ramanujam B, Singh G, Tripathi M. Bridging the gap between analytical methods and their clinical interpretation. Epilepsia. 2020 Oct 16. doi: 10.1111/epi.16706. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33063844.
  5. Agrawal M, Samala R, Doddamani RS, Chandra PS. Letter: predictors of postoperative complications after selective dorsal rhizotomy. Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2020 Oct 28. doi: 10.1007/s00701-020-04629-7. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33111153.
  6. Doddamani RS, Tripathi M, Samala R, Agarwal M, Ramanujan B, Chandra SP. Posterior quadrant disconnection for sub-hemispheric drug refractory epilepsy. Neurol India. 2020 Mar-Apr;68(2):270-273. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.284358. PMID: 32415002.
  7. Agrawal M, Chandra PS, Doddamani R, Kaur K, Samala R, Tripathi M. Maximizing non-invasive investigations in the quest for identifying the epileptogenic zone. Clin Neurophysiol. 2020 Nov;131(11):2777-2778. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2020.08.020. Epub 2020 Sep 23. PMID: 33011079.
  8. Doddamani RS, Samala R, Agrawal M, Verma R, Kumar N, Chandra PS. Robotic Guided Bilateral Anterior Cingulate Radiofrequency Ablation for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Neurol India 2020;68, Suppl S2:333-6
  9. Chandra PS, Samala R, Agrawal M, Doddamani RS, Ramanujam B, Tripathi M. Vagal Nerve Stimulation for Drug Refractory Epilepsy. Neurol India 2020;68, Suppl S2:325-7
  10. Garg K, Samala R, Agrawal M, Rajan R, Singh M. Pallidotomy for Dystonia. Neurol India 2020;68, Suppl S2:322-4
  11. Doddamani RS, Agrawal M, Samala R, Ramanujam B, Chandra PS, Tripathi M. Vagal Nerve Stimulation in the Management of Epilepsy – Recent Concepts. Neurol India 2020;68, Suppl S2:259-67
  12. Parihar J, Agrawal M, Samala R, Chandra P S, Tripathi M. Role of Neuromodulation for Treatment of Drug-Resistant Epilepsy. Neurol India 2020;68, Suppl S2:249-58
  13. Samala R, Borkar SA, Sharma R, Garg A, Suri A, Gupta D, Kale SS. Effectiveness of preoperative facial nerve diffusion tensor imaging tractography for preservation of facial nerve function in surgery for large vestibular schwannomas: Results of a prospective randomized study. Neurol India 2019;76(1):149-154
  14. Letter to Editor: Samala R, Garg K, Kedia S, Satyarthee GD. Endovascular management of epidural hematomas. J Neurosurg 2018 May;128(5):1601-1603. doi: 10.3171/2017.9.JNS172067
  15. Abstract: Borkar S, Kale S, Samala R. Extramedullary foramen magnum tumors: Decision making and surgical outcome. Global Spine Journal 2018;8(IS):352S
  16. Agrawal M, Samala R, Doddamani RS, Goyal A, Tripathi M, Chandra PS. Is surgery effective for treating hypothalamic hamartoma causing isolated central precocious puberty? A systematic review. Neurosurg Rev. 2021 Feb 28. doi: 10.1007/s10143-021-01512-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33641048.
  17. Chandra PS, Doddamani R, Girishan S, Samala R, Agrawal M, Garg A, Ramanujam B, Tripathi M, Bal C, Nehra A, Tripathi M. Robotic thermocoagulative hemispherotomy: concept, feasibility, outcomes, and safety of a new “bloodless” technique. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2021 Apr 2:1-12. doi: 10.3171/2020.10.PEDS20673. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33799306.
  18. Mirpuri P, Chandra PP, Samala R, Agarwal M, Doddamani R, Kaur K, Ramanujan B, Chandra PS, Tripathi M. The development and efficacy of a mobile phone application to improve medication adherence for persons with epilepsy in limited resource settings: A preliminary study. Epilepsy Behav. 2021 Mar;116:107794. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.107794. Epub 2021 Feb 10. PMID: 33578224.
  19. Doddamani, Ramesh & Meena, Rajesh & Samala, Raghu & Agrawal, Mohit & Tripathi, Manjari & Chandra, Sarat. (2021). Expanding the Horizons of mTOR Inhibitors for Treating Subependymal Giant Cell Astrocytomas with Obstructive Hydrocephalus. Pediatric Neurosurgery. 1-2. 10.1159/000512720.
  20. Agrawal M, Chandra PS, Samala R, Doddamani R, Ramanujan B, Tripathi M. Letter: Risk Factors for Seizure Worsening After Epilepsy Surgery in Children and Adults: A Population-Based Register Study. Neurosurgery. 2020; 88. 10.1093/neuros/nyaa559.
  21. Kaur K,Agrawal M, Yadav M, Chandra PS, Samala R, Doddamani R, Ramanujam B, Tripathi M.. On-scalp Magnetoencephalography: A long but promising road ahead?. Clinical Neurophysiology. 2020; 132. 10.1016/j.clinph.2020.12.011.
  22. Agrawal M, Tripathi M, Samala R, Doddamani R, Ramanujan B, Chandra PS. Epilepsy surgery in COVID times-a unique conundrum. Childs Nerv Syst. 2021 Apr 10:1–6. doi: 10.1007/s00381-021-05048-4. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33839899; PMCID: PMC8036014.
  23. Agrawal M, Garg K, Samala R, Rajan R, Singh M. A Scientometric Analysis of the 100 Most Cited Articles on Pallidotomy. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 2021 Jun 2:1-11. doi: 10.1159/000516237. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34077938.
  24. Agrawal M, Garg K, Samala R, Rajan R, Naik V, Singh M. Outcome and Complications of MR Guided Focused Ultrasound for Essential Tremor: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front Neurol. 2021 May 7;12:654711. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.654711. PMID: 34025558; PMCID: PMC8137896.
  25. Doddamani RS, Samala R, Subianto H, Ramanujam B, Tripathi M, Chandra PS. Robotic-Guided Stereoelectroencephalography for Refractory Epilepsy: Technique and Nuances. Neurol India. 2021 May-Jun;69(3):587-591. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.319246. PMID: 34169847.
  26. Doddamani RS, Samala R, Chandra PS, Tripathi M. Letter to the Editor. Boltless stereoelectroencephalography: a necessity in very young children. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2021 Jun 18:1-2. doi: 10.3171/2021.3.PEDS21133. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34144515
  27. Samala R, Doddamani R, Tripathi M, Chandra PS. Letter to the Editor. Is arterial spin labeling relevant in MRI-negative drug-refractory epilepsy? J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2021 Jun 18:1. doi: 10.3171/2021.3.PEDS21139. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34144514.
  28. Doddamani RS, Chandra P S, Samala R, Ramanujan B, Tripathi M, Bal C S, Garg A, Gaikwad S, Tripathi M. Endoscopic Hemispherotomy for Nonatrophic Rasmussen’s Encephalopathy. Neurol India 2021;69:837-41
  29. Samala Raghu, Agrawal Mohit, Doddamani Ramesh, Meena Rajesh, Agrawal Deepak, Chandra Sarat, Tripathi Manjari. Pearls and Nuances in Vagal Nerve Stimulator Implantation Surgery. J Peripheral Nervous System. 2021;5:19-23. 10.1055/s-0041-1731954.
  30. Samala Raghu, Doddamani Ramesh,  Meena Rajesh,  Agrawal Mohit, Sawarkar Dattaraj, Agrawal Deepak, Chandra Sarat, Tripathi Manjari. . Vagal Nerve Stimulation for Non-neurological Diseases: An Overview. J the Peripheral Nervous System. 2021; 5: 14-18. 10.1055/s-0041-1731889.