UCSF Neurological Surgery faculty since 1975
 
Dr. Pitts specializes in the treatment of acoustic neuromas, and since 1979 has operated on more nearly 1000 patients who have this disorder. A substantial portion of Dr. Pitts' practice also includes spinal surgery, encompassing a wide variety of degenerative and vascular disorders as well as cancer of the spine and spinal cord. Dr. Pitts and his colleagues routinely treat a broad spectrum of spinal problems and are able to provide treatment using virtually all contemporary surgical approaches, techniques, and instrumentation as they are needed. Dr. Pitts practices in the Department's Adult Brain Tumor Program with specialization in acoustic neuroma and skull base tumors, the Central Nervous System Injury Program, the Neurospinal Disorders Program, the Central Nervous System Infections and AIDS Program, and the Hydrocephalus and Shunt Program for Adults.
 
A former Chief of Neurological Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) and a principal investigator in the Brain and Spinal Injury Center (BASIC), Dr. Pitts is recognized for his expertise in neurotrauma care and research. He has published on clinical and radiological features of head, spine, and spinal cord injury and has lectured on neurotrauma topics nationally and internationally. Under his leadership, three clinical drug trials related to severe head injury and three others related to acute spinal cord injury have been conducted. Dr. Pitts developed one of the first versions of the laboratory model of acute brain trauma planned for use in a multi-institutional trial of treatment of experimental head injury.
 
 
Education, Training, and Previous Positions
 
1963: BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1969: MD, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
1969-1970: Surgical Internship, UCSF
1970-1975: Residency in Neurological Surgery, UCSF
1975-1980: Assistant Professor, Neurological Surgery, UCSF
1980-1986: Associate Professor, Neurological Surgery, UCSF
 
Selected Professional Memberships and Appointments
 
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
CNS-AANS Joint Committee on Trauma
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
The Society of Neurological Surgeons
American Association for the Surgery of Trauma
Neurotrauma Society
American Academy of Neurological Surgeons
 
Selected Honors and Awards
 
1968: Alpha Omega Alpha, Case Western Reserve University
1975: Van Wagenen Fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgery
1992: Neurosurgery Residents' Rosegay Teaching Award
1992: SFGH Residents' Teaching Award
1994: Francis Sooy Award for Clinical Excellence
1994: UCSF Otolaryngology Residents' Award
1997: Neurosurgery Residents' Rosegay Teaching Award
2000: The ACS COT Millennium Commitment Award
2002-2003: Vice Chair, Academic Senate, University of California
2003-2004: Chair, Academic Senate, University of California
 
Contact
 
Lawrence H. Pitts MD
University of California, San Francisco
Department of Neurological Surgery
505 Parnassus Ave. Rm. M779
San Francisco, CA 94143-0112
Phone: (415) 353-3998 (academic)
             (415) 353-2365 (clinical)
 
Selected Recent Publications
 
Pitts LH. Supplementary comment on "Effect of therapeutic moderate hypothermia on multi-drug resistance protein 1-mediated transepithelial transport of drugs". Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo). 2006;46(8):418.
 
Ashram YA, Jackler RK, Pitts LH, Yingling CD. Intraoperative electrophysiologic identification of the nervus intermedius. Otol Neurotol 2005;26(2):274-9.
 
Bloch DC, Oghalai JS, Jackler RK, Osofsky M, Pitts LH. The fate of the tumor remnant after less-than-complete acoustic neuroma resection. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2004;130(1):104-12.
 
Binder DK, Sarkissian V, Schmidt MH, Pitts LH. Resolution of intracranial hypertension after elevation of depressed cranial fracture over the superior sagittal sinus: case report. Neurosurgery 2004;55(4):986.
 
Hegarty JL, Jackler RK, Rigby PL, Pitts LH, Cheung SW. Distal anterior inferior cerebellar artery syndrome after acoustic neuroma surgery. Otol Neurotol. 2002;23(4):560-71.
 
Satar B, Jackler RK, Oghalai J, Pitts LH, Yates PD. Risk-benefit analysis of using the middle fossa approach for acoustic neuromas with >10 mm cerebellopontine angle component. Laryngoscope. 2002;112(8 Pt 1):1500-6.
 
Narayan RK, Michel ME, Ansell B, Baethmann A, Biegon A, Bracken MB, Bullock MR, Choi SC, Clifton GL, Contant CF, Coplin WM, Dietrich WD, Ghajar J, Grady SM, Grossman RG, Hall ED, Heetderks W, Hovda DA, Jallo J, Katz RL, Knoller N, Kochanek PM, Maas AI, Majde J, Marion DW, Marmarou A, Marshall LF, McIntosh TK, Miller E, Mohberg N, Muizelaar JP, Pitts LH, Quinn P, Riesenfeld G, Robertson CS, Strauss KI, Teasdale G, Temkin N, Tuma R, Wade C, Walker MD, Weinrich M, Whyte J, Wilberger J, Young AB, Yurkewicz L. Clinical trials in head injury. J Neurotrauma. 2002;19(5):503-57.
 
Driscoll CL, Jackler RK, Pitts LH, Banthia V. Is the entire fundus of the internal auditory canal visible during the middle fossa approach for acoustic neuroma? Am J Otol. 2000;21(3):382-8.
 
Manley GT, Hemphill JC, Morabito D, Derugin N, Erickson V, Pitts LH, Knudson MM. Cerebral oxygenation during hemorrhagic shock: perils of hyperventilation and the therapeutic potential of hypoventilation. J Trauma. 2000;48(6):1025-32; discussion 1032-3.
 
Mummaneni PV, Pitts LH, McCormack BM, Corroo JM, Weinstein PR. Microsurgical treatment of symptomatic sacral Tarlov cysts. Neurosurgery. 2000;47(1):74-8; discussion 78-9.
 
 
Pitts LH, Holland M. Trauma: the neurosurgeon's domain. Clin Neurosurg. 2000;46:216-27.