Allan J.

Belzberg

,

MD

Education

Dr. Allan Belzberg completed his undergraduate training at the University of British Columbia. He received his medical degree from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. After completing a medical/surgical internship at McGill University Teaching Hospitals, Dr. Belzberg returned to the University of Calgary Teaching Hospitals for his residency and fellowship in neurosurgery. Dr. Belzberg then joined Johns Hopkins, where he completed an advanced specialty training program in pain, spine and peripheral nerve. He has received several awards, including the R. Tasker Award for Research from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Shared Vision Award from Neurofibromatosis Inc., Mid-Atlantic, and the Outreach Award from the United Brachial Plexus Network. Today, he is an associate professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins where he serves as the director of the Peripheral Nerve Center. Dr. Belzberg is also the co-director of the Brachial Plexus Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Research

Dr. Belzberg’s specialties include the surgical repair of injured nerves, removal of nerve tumors and decompression of nerve entrapments. He also focuses on spinal surgery, including the surgical management of degenerative spine problems, tumors and minimally invasive spinal surgery.

Dr. Belzberg uses innovative techniques to bypass an injured nerve by using a healthy nerve from another part of the body to rewire the system. His patients, many of whom had been told that they faced certain amputation, often recover with at least partial use of the injured limb.

Dr. Belzberg heads a nationally funded laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. His team has developed a rat model that enables him to evaluate how neuromas form. He then tests new drugs and other techniques to have the nerve rid itself of the neuroma and to stop forming new ones. Dr. Belzberg is also researching ways to remove or treat the tumors of patients with neurofibromatosis and schwannomatosis while leaving the nerves intact.

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Elsevier Fingerprint Engine Profile for Allan Belzberg

Research Publications

Pindrik J, Bosques G, Wingrat J, Belzberg AJ (2013). Severe brachial plexus palsy in women without shoulder dystocia. Obstet Gynecol. 121(3), 685. 

Chalian M, Faridian-Aragh N, Soldatos T, Batra K, Belzberg AJ, Williams EH, Carrino JA, Chhabra A (2011). High-resolution 3T MR neurography of suprascapular neuropathy.Acad Radiol. 18(8), 1049-59. 

Dorsi MJ, Zwagil ZS, Hsu W, Belzberg AJ (2011). Epithelioid sarcoma of the tibial portion of the sciatic nerve. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 113(6), 506-8. 

Zaidi HA, Pendleton C, Pradilla G, Cohen-Gadol AA, Belzberg AJ, Quiñones-Hinojosa A(2011). Harvey Cushing's innovative attempt at xenotransplanting a rabbit spinal cord in a patient after resection of a peripheral nerve tumor in 1902. Neurosurgery. 68(3), 773-8; discussion 778-80. 

Dorsi MJ, Lambrinos G, Dellon AL, Belzberg AJ (2011). Dorsal rhizotomy for treatment of bilateral intercostal neuralgia following augmentation mammaplasty: case report and review of the literature. Microsurgery. 31(1), 41-4. 

Dorsi MJ, Hsu W, Belzberg AJ (2010). Epidemiology of brachial plexus injury in the pediatric multitrauma population in the United States. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 5(6), 573-7. 

Anderson WS, Lawson HC, Belzberg AJ, Lenz FA (2008). Selective denervation of the levator scapulae muscle: an amendment to the Bertrand procedure for the treatment of spasmodic torticollis. J Neurosurg. 108(4), 757-63.

Dorsi MJ, Chen L, Murinson BB, Pogatzki-Zahn EM, Meyer RA, Belzberg AJ (2008). The tibial neuroma transposition (TNT) model of neuroma pain and hyperalgesia. Pain. 134(3), 320-34. 

Sciubba DM, Dorsi MJ, Kretzer R, Belzberg AJ (2008). Computed tomography reconstruction artifact suggesting cervical spine subluxation. J Neurosurg Spine. 8(1), 84-7.

Belzberg AJ, Dorsi MJ, Storm PB, Moriarity JL (2004). Surgical repair of brachial plexus injury: a multinational survey of experienced peripheral nerve surgeons. J Neurosurg. 101(3), 365-76. 

Dorsi MJ, Belzberg AJ (2004). Paraspinal nerve sheath tumors. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 15(2), 217-22, vii.

Lancelotta MP, Sheth RN, Meyer RA, Belzberg AJ, Griffin JW, Campbell JN (2003). Severity and duration of hyperalgesia in rat varies with type of nerve lesion. Neurosurgery. 53(5), 1200-8; discussion 1208-9. 

Dorsi MJ, Chen L, Meyer RA, Pogatzki E, Belzberg AJ (2003). Ronald Tasker Award: a novel model of neuroma pain. Clin Neurosurg. 50, 382-6. 

Sheth RN, Dorsi MJ, Li Y, Murinson BB, Belzberg AJ, Griffin JW, Meyer RA (2002). Mechanical hyperalgesia after an L5 ventral rhizotomy or an L5 ganglionectomy in the rat. Pain. 96(1-2), 63-72. 

Ali Z, Meyer RA, Belzberg AJ (2002). Neuropathic pain after C7 spinal nerve transection in man. Pain. 96(1-2), 41-7.