Profile Detail

Vikas Agarwal, MD

Professor of Radiology
Vice Chair of Education
E-Mail:

Interest (in 3 to 10 words): Neurotrauma; Spine; Education

Education	Boston University School of Medicine, M.D., 2003 University of Pittsburgh, Residency, 2008 University of Pittsburgh, Neuroradiology fellowship, 2009
	Boston University
Medical / Graduate School	Boston University
Residency	University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Clinical / Post-doctoral Fellowship	Neuroradiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Current	Allegheny County Medical Society Alliance of Clinical-Educators in Radiology Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology American College of Radiology American Medical Association American Roentgen Ray Society American Society of Neuroradiology American Society of Spine Radiology Association of University Radiologists Pennsylvania Medical Society Pittsburgh Roentgen Society Radiological Society of North America
Specialties & Programs	PET MR CT Interventional Clinical Translational
Clinical Interest	Brain Tumors Degenerative Disc Disease Spine Intervention Spine tumors Traumatic Brain Injury Spinal Cord Injury
Research Interest	Serum biomarkers of low back pain. Imaging markers of degenerative disc disease. Imaging biomarkers in traumatic brain injury. Medical student and resident education in Radiology. Stem cell therapy in spinal cord injury Image-guided spine interventions
Selected Publications	Gurkin SA, Parikshak M, Kralovich KA, Horst HM, Agarwal V, Payne N. Indicators for Tracheostomy in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury. Am Surg. 2002;68:324328; discussion 328-9. Bartynski WS, Jennings RB, Rothfus WE, Agarwal V. Immediate Pain Response to Interlaminar Lumbar Epidural Steroid Administration: Response Characteristics and Effect of Anesthetic Concentration. Am J Neurorad. 2013;34:239-246. Agarwal V, Sreedher G, Rothfus WE. Targeted CT Guided Epidural Blood Patch for Treatment of Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension due to Calcified Intradural Thoracic Disc Herniation. Interv Neuroradiol. 2013;19:121-26. Ching KC, Medsinge A, Agarwal V, Short R, Amesur NB. Wireless Connection between Guide Wires and Bone Cement: Extravasated Methyl Methacrylate Mimicking a Retained Guidewire. Case Rep Radiol. 2013;2013:180735. Agarwal V, Sreedher G, Weiss KR, Hughes MA. Sacroplasty for Symptomatic Sacral Hemangioma: A Novel Treatment Approach. Interv Neuroradiol. 2013;19:245-49. Shankar PR, Woodard J, Heller MT, Agarwal V, Orons PD. Implementation and Outcomes of a Resident-led Physics Curriculum with Integration of the RSNA/AAPM Physics Modules. Acad Radiol. 2013;20:1306-10. Salibi PN, Agarwal V, Panczykowski DM, Puccio AM, Sheetz MA, Okonkwo DO. Lifetime Attributable Risk of Cancer from Computed Tomography in Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Am J Roentgen. 2014;202:397-400. Bechara BP, Agarwal V, Boardman J, Perera S, Weiner DK, Vo N, Kang J, Sowa GA. Correlation of Pain with Objective Quantification of Magnetic Resonance Images in Older Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain. Spine. 2014;39:469-45. Agarwal V, Fitzgerald RT, Rothfus WE. Radiofrequency Ablation Treatment of Chronic Neck and Low Back Pain Attributable to Facet Joints. Neurographics. 2014;4:106-113. Chen JY, Agarwal V, Orons PD. How Competitive is the Match for Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology Fellowship? A 2008 to 2013 Perspective. J Am Coll Radiol. 2014;11:1069-73. Sowa GA, Perera S, Bechara BP, Agarwal V, Boardman J, Huang W, Camacho-Soto A, Vo N, Kang J, Weiner DK. Associations of Serum Biomarkers with Pain and Pain Related Disability in Older Adults with Low Back Pain: A Pilot Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014;62:2047-55. Henry L, Burkhart S, Elbin R, Agarwal V, Kontos A. Diffuse Axonal Injury and Persistent Emotional Lability in an Adolescent Following Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Study. J Clin Exp Neuropsyc. 2015;37:439-54. Singleton A, Agarwal V, Casagranda B, Hughes MA, Rothfus WE. Lumbar Discal Cyst in an Elite Athlete: A Rare Case Report in North America. Radiology Case Reports. 2015;8(1):764. Rodriguez D, Branstetter BF, Agarwal V, Palfey S, Ching KC, Bump GM, Hughes MA. Incidence of Complications Following Fluoroscopically-guided Lumbar Punctures and Myelograms. Am J Roentgen. 2016;206(1):20-5. (Selected for AJR Journal Club, a monthly feature designed to help build skills in evidence-based radiology) Agarwal V, Wo S, Lagemann GM, Tsay J, Delfyett WT. Image-Guided Percutaneous Disc Sampling: Impact of Antecedent Antibiotics on Yield. Clin Radiol. 2016;71(3):228-34. Lagemann GM, Yannes M, Ghodadra A, Rothfus WE, Agarwal V. CT-Fluoroscopic Cervical Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections: Extraforaminal Needle Tip Position Decreases Risk of Intravascular Injection. Am J Neurorad. 2016;37(4):766-72. Mettenburg JM, Agarwal V, Baldwin M, Rittenberger JC. Discordant Observation of Brain Injury by MRI and Malignant EEG Patterns in Comatose Survivors of Cardiac Arrest Following Therapeutic Hypothermia. Am J Neurorad. 2016;37(10):1787-93. Gande AV, Chivukula S, Moossy JJ, Rothfus WE, Agarwal V, Horowitz M, Gardner P. Long-Term Outcomes of Cervical Dorsal Root Rhizotomy for Refractory Occipital Neuralgia. J Neurosurg. 2016;125(1):102-10. OConnor EE, Fried JG, McNulty N, Shah PN, Hogg JP, Lewis PJ, Zeffiro T, Agarwal V, Reddy S. Flipping Radiology Education Right Side Up. Acad Radiol. 2016;23(7):810-822. (Winner of 2017 Stauffer Award for Best Education Paper published in Academic Radiology in the year 2016) Yu RK, Lagemann GM, Ghodadra A, Agarwal V. Extraforaminal Needle Tip Position Reduces Risk of Intravascular Injection in CT-Fluoroscopic Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections. J Spine Surg. 2016;2(4):246-55. Lagemann GM, Aldred P, Borhani A, Ghodadra A, Agarwal V. Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections: Incidental Extrapsinal Findings on Planning Imaging. Am J Roentgen. 2016;207:1271-77. Mousavi SH, Akpinar B, Niranjan A, Agarwal V, Cohen J, Flickinger JC, Kondziolka D, Lunsford LD. The Clinical Significance of Persistent Trigeminal Nerve Contrast Enhancement in Patients Who Undergo Repeat Radiosurgery. J Neurosurg. 2017;127(1):219-225. Kale H, Muthukrishnan A, Hedge, S, Agarwal V. Intracranial Perishunt Catheter Fluid Collections with Edema-A Sign of Shunt Malfunction-A Correlation of CT/MRI and NM Findings. Am J Neurorad. 2017;38(9):1754-57. Reyes M, Georgy M, Brook L, Ortiz O, Brook A, Agarwal V, Muto M, Manfre L, Marcia S, Georgy BA. Multicenter Clinical and Imaging Evaluation of Targeted Radiofrequency Ablation (t-RFA) and Cement Augmentation of Neoplastic Vertebral Lesions. J Neurointerv Surg. 2018;10(2):176-182. Agarwal V, Bump GM, Heller MT, Chen LW, Branstetter BF, Amesur NB, Hughes MA. Do Residency Selection Factors Predict Radiology Resident Performance? Acad Radiol 2018;25(3):397-402. Rocha M, Delfyett WT, Agarwal V, Aghaerbrahim A, Jadhav A, Jovin T. Diagnostic Accuracy of Emergency CT Angiography for Presumed Tandem Internal Carotid Artery Occlusion before Acute Endovascular Therapy. J Neurointerv Surg 2018;10(7):653-656. Oligane H, Rongo K, Agarwal V, Branstetter BF. Spontaneous Regression of a Large Calcified Thoracic Disc Extrusion. Skeletal Radiol. 2018;47(8):1177-1182. Fitzgerald RT, Agarwal V, Hoang J, Gaillard F, Dixon A, Kanal E. The Impact of Gadolinium Deposition on Radiology Practice: An International Survey of Radiologists. Curr Probl Diagn Radiol. 2018;48(3):220-223. Recognized by HealthImaging: (https://www.healthimaging.com/topics/practice-management/58-radiologists-dont-report-brain-deposition-gadolinium) Kennedy TA, Corey AS, Policeni B, Agarwal V, et al. ACR Appropriateness Criteria Orbits Vision and Visual Loss. J Am Coll Radiol. 2018;15(5S):S116-S131. Agarwal V, Bump GM, Heller MT, Chen LW, Branstetter BF, Amesur NB, Hughes MA. Resident Case Volume Correlates with Clinical Performance: Finding the Sweet Spot. Acad Radiol 2019;26(1):136-140. Recognized by Radiology Business: (https://www.radiologybusiness.com/topics/leadership/radiology-residents-volumes-clinical-performance) El-Ali AM, Agarwal V, Filippi CG, Thomas A, Hamilton RL. Clinical Metric for Differentiating Intracranial Hemangiopericytomas from Meningiomas Using Diffusion Weighted MRI. Clin Imaging 2019;54:1-5. Juliano AF, Policeni B, Agarwal V, et al. ACR Appropriateness Criteria Ataxia. J Am Coll Radiol. 2019;16(5S):S44-S56. Hoang JK, Oldan JD, Mandel SJ, Policeni B, Agarwal V, et al. ACR Appropriateness Criteria Thyroid Disease. J Am Coll Radiol. 2019;16(5S):S300-S314. Herr K, George E, Agarwal V, McKnight CD, Jiang L, Jawahar A, Pakkal M, Ulano A, Ganeshan D. Aligning the Implicit Curriculum with the Explicit Curriculum in Radiology. Acad Radiol. [In Press]. Catanzano T, Schaefer P, Chetlen A, Naeger D, Mohammed TLH, Agarwal V, Mullins ME. Vice Chair for Education: Twelve Roles to Provide a Framework for Success. Acad Radiol. [In Press]. Lee JJ, Morillo-Hernandez C, Agarwal V, Standaert CJ, English III JC. Cervical Spine Imaging and Treatment Outcomes in Scalp Dysesthesia: A Retrospective Cohort Study. [published online ahead of print, 2020 Aug 7]. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;S0190-9622(20)32364-1. Nowicki KW, Gale JR, Agarwal V, Monaco EA. Pneumomyelia Secondary to Interlaminar Cervical Epidural Injection Causing Acute Cord Injury with Transient Quadriparesis. World Neurosurg. [In Press]. Wanaryattawanich P, Kale HA, Kanter AS, Agarwal V. Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Review of Surgical Technique and Post-Operative Multi-Modality Imaging Findings. Am J Roentgen. [In Press]. Ho C, et al. Mitigating Asian-American Bias and Xenophobia in Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic: How You Can be an Upstander. J Am Coll Radiol. [In Press].
Honors and Awards	ASSR Certificate of Merit: 2010 Neuroradiology Resident Teaching Award: 2011; 2015 RSNA Certificate of Merit Award: 2015; 2017 RSNA Cum Laude Award: 2016 AARI Visiting Scholarship Award: 2017 Herbert M. Stauffer Award for Best Education Paper Published in Academic Radiology: 2017 Best Doctors in America: 2019; 2020 UPMC Physician Services Award for Commitment and Excellence in Service (ACES): 2019 UPSOM Professionalism Accolade: 2020
PubMed Publications	See a listing of publications on PubMed, a service of the National Library of medicine.