Frederick Hitti, M.D., Ph.D.

Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute

Neurological Surgery
Epilepsy & Seizures
Movement Disorders

New Patient Appointment Accepting Virtual Visits or 214-645-2300

Biography

Frederick Hitti, M.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in neuromodulation to treat epilepsy and movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. He also works on the development of novel therapies for psychiatric disorders, such as treatment-resistant depression.

Dr. Hitti earned his medical degree and a doctoral degree in neurobiology and behavior at Columbia University in New York. He completed a residency in neurosurgery and a fellowship in functional neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2022.

Dr. Hitti is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

He has published numerous academic articles related to his areas of expertise and contributed to the books Skull Base Surgery: Strategies and Operative Techniques in Epilepsy Surgery.

Education & Training

Medical School - Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (2007-2015)
Residency - University of Pennsylvania (2015-2022)

Professional Associations & Affiliations

American Association of Neurological Surgeons
Congress of Neurological Surgeons

Honors & Awards

Titus Munson Coan Prize 2015, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Kavli Award for Distinguished Research in Neuroscience 2014, Kavli Institute at Columbia University

Books & Publications

Books
- Peg, Strip, and Grid Implantation in Operative Techniques in Epilepsy Surgery
  Hitti FL, Buch VP, Kennedy BC, Vogel TW, Heuer GG, Goodman RR, Baltuch GH, and Storm PB (2019), Thieme
Publications
- Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Essential Tremor Under General Anesthesia: Technical Note.
  Mensah-Brown KG, Yang AI, Hitti FL, Henry L, Heman-Ackah SM, Chaibainou H, Baltuch GH, Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) 2022 04 22 4 255-260
- Feasibility of Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Essential Tremor in the Setting of Prior Craniotomy.
  Wathen C, Yang AI, Hitti FL, Henry L, Chaibainou H, Baltuch GH, Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) 2022 02 22 2 61-65
- Gamma Knife radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia provides greater pain relief at higher dose rates.
  Yang AI, Mensah-Brown KG, Shekhtman EF, Kvint S, Wathen CA, Hitti FL, Alonso-Basanta M, Avery SM, Dorsey JF, Y K Lee J, Journal of radiosurgery and SBRT 2022 8 2 117-125
- Laterality and Sex Differences of Human Lateral Habenula Afferent and Efferent Fiber Tracts.
  Hitti FL, Parker D, Yang AI, Brem S, Verma R, Frontiers in neuroscience 2022 16 837624
- Patient-specific effects on sonication heating efficiency during magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy.
  Yang AI, Hitti FL, Alabi OO, Joshi D, Chaibainou H, Henry L, Clanton R, Baltuch GH, Medical physics 2021 Nov 48 11 6588-6596
- Deep Brain Stimulation of the Ventral Capsule/Ventral Striatum for Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Decade of Clinical Follow-Up.
  Hitti FL, Cristancho MA, Yang AI, O'Reardon JP, Bhati MT, Baltuch GH, The Journal of clinical psychiatry 2021 10 82 6
- Letter: Lesion Shape and Size in MRgFUS Thalamotomy: Predictors and Implications.
  Yang AI, Alabi OO, Hitti FL, Henry L, Clanton R, Baltuch GH, Neurosurgery 2021 08 89 3 E198-E200
- Debunking mRNA Vaccine Misconceptions-An Overview for Medical Professionals.
  Hitti FL, Weissman D, The American journal of medicine 2021 06 134 6 703-704
- Deep Brain Stimulation Is Effective for Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression.
  Hitti FL, Yang AI, Cristancho MA, Baltuch GH, Journal of clinical medicine 2020 Aug 9 9
- Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for Essential Tremor: Relation of the Dentatorubrothalamic Tract with Stimulation Parameters.
  Yang AI, Buch VP, Heman-Ackah SM, Ramayya AG, Hitti FL, Beatson N, Chaibainou H, Yates M, Wang S, Verma R, Wolf RL, Baltuch GH, World neurosurgery 2020 05 137 e89-e97
- Inequalities in Meningioma Survival: Results from the National Cancer Database.
  Yang AI, Mensah-Brown KG, Rinehart C, Fathy R, Hitti FL, Brant J, Lee JYK, Cureus 2020 Mar 12 3 e7304
- Surgical Outcomes in Post-Traumatic Epilepsy: A Single Institutional Experience.
  Hitti FL, Piazza M, Sinha S, Kvint S, Hudgins E, Baltuch G, Diaz-Arrastia R, Davis KA, Litt B, Lucas T, Chen HI, Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) 2020 01 18 1 12-18
- Growth of Lumbosacral Perineural (Tarlov) Cysts: A Natural History Analysis.
  Yang AI, Rinehart CD, McShane BJ, Hitti FL, Welch WC, Neurosurgery 2020 01 86 1 88-92
- Predictors of Neurological Outcome Following Subaxial Cervical Spine Trauma.
  Hitti FL, Mcshane BJ, Yang AI, Rinehart C, Albayar A, Branche M, Yolcu YU, Ali ZS, Schuster JM, Ozturk AK, Cureus 2019 Dec 11 12 e6402
- Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Essential Tremor in the Setting of a Ventricular Shunt: Technical Report.
  Yang AI, Chaibainou H, Wang S, Hitti FL, McShane BJ, Tilden D, Korn M, Blanke A, Dayan M, Wolf RL, Baltuch GH, Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) 2019 10 17 4 376-381
- Human gene therapy approaches for the treatment of Parkinson's disease: An overview of current and completed clinical trials.
  Hitti FL, Yang AI, Gonzalez-Alegre P, Baltuch GH, Parkinsonism & related disorders 2019 09 66 16-24
- Endoscopic Resection of a Cerebellopontine Angle Epidermoid Cyst via a Retrosigmoid Approach.
  Hitti FL, Lee JYK, Journal of neurological surgery. Part B, Skull base 2019 Jun 80 Suppl 3 S330
- Endoscopic Resection of a Cerebellopontine Angle Meningioma via a Retrosigmoid Approach.
  Hitti FL, Lee JYK, Journal of neurological surgery. Part B, Skull base 2019 Jun 80 Suppl 3 S310
- Predictors of Failure of Nonoperative Management Following Subaxial Spine Trauma and Creation of Modified Subaxial Injury Classification System.
  Hitti FL, McShane BJ, Yang AI, Rinehart C, Albayar A, Branche M, Malhotra NR, Janjua MB, Ali ZS, Schuster JM, Ozturk AK, World neurosurgery 2019 Feb 122 e1359-e1364
- Long-term outcomes following deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease.
  Hitti FL, Ramayya AG, McShane BJ, Yang AI, Vaughan KA, Baltuch GH, Journal of neurosurgery 2019 01 1-6
- Patterns of opioid use in patients with trigeminal neuralgia undergoing neurosurgery.
  Yang AI, McShane BJ, Hitti FL, Sandhu SK, Chen HI, Lee JYK, Journal of neurosurgery 2019 Jan 131 6 1805-1811
- Gene Therapy for Neurologic Disease: A Neurosurgical Review.
  Hitti FL, Gonzalez-Alegre P, Lucas TH, World neurosurgery 2019 Jan 121 261-273
- Endoscopic Resection of an Intraventricular Tumor With Second Window Indocyanine Green: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.
  Hitti FL, Lee JYK, Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) 2018 Nov 15 5 E53-E54
- Reduced long-term cost and increased patient satisfaction with rechargeable implantable pulse generators for deep brain stimulation.
  Hitti FL, Vaughan KA, Ramayya AG, McShane BJ, Baltuch GH, Journal of neurosurgery 2018 09 131 3 799-806
- Pseudotumor cerebri comorbid with meningioma: A review and case series.
  Sharma N, Hitti FL, Liu G, Grady MS, Surgical neurology international 2018 9 130
- Intraoperative Navigation Is Associated with Reduced Blood Loss During C1-C2 Posterior Cervical Fixation.
  Hitti FL, Hudgins ED, Chen HI, Malhotra NR, Zager EL, Schuster JM, World neurosurgery 2017 Nov 107 574-578
- Gating of hippocampal activity, plasticity, and memory by entorhinal cortex long-range inhibition.
  Basu J, Zaremba JD, Cheung SK, Hitti FL, Zemelman BV, Losonczy A, Siegelbaum SA, Science (New York, N.Y.) 2016 Jan 351 6269 aaa5694
- The hippocampal CA2 region is essential for social memory.
  Hitti FL, Siegelbaum SA, Nature 2014 Apr 508 7494 88-92
- High frequency stimulation abolishes thalamic network oscillations: an electrophysiological and computational analysis.
  Lee KH, Hitti FL, Chang SY, Lee DC, Roberts DW, McIntyre CC, Leiter JC, Journal of neural engineering 2011 Aug 8 4 046001
- Deep brain stimulation results in local glutamate and adenosine release: investigation into the role of astrocytes.
  Tawfik VL, Chang SY, Hitti FL, Roberts DW, Leiter JC, Jovanovic S, Lee KH, Neurosurgery 2010 Aug 67 2 367-75
- High-frequency stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus increases glutamate in the subthalamic nucleus of rats as demonstrated by in vivo enzyme-linked glutamate sensor.
  Lee KH, Kristic K, van Hoff R, Hitti FL, Blaha C, Harris B, Roberts DW, Leiter JC, Brain research 2007 Aug 1162 121-9
- Dopamine efflux in the rat striatum evoked by electrical stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus: potential mechanism of action in Parkinson's disease.
  Lee KH, Blaha CD, Harris BT, Cooper S, Hitti FL, Leiter JC, Roberts DW, Kim U, The European journal of neuroscience 2006 Feb 23 4 1005-14
- Abolition of spindle oscillations and 3-Hz absence seizurelike activity in the thalamus by using high-frequency stimulation: potential mechanism of action.
  Lee KH, Hitti FL, Shalinsky MH, Kim U, Leiter JC, Roberts DW, Journal of neurosurgery 2005 Sep 103 3 538-45

Research

Deep brain stimulation
Treatment-resistant depression
Gene therapy
Focused ultrasound
Tractography

Clinical Focus

Epilepsy & Seizures
Movement Disorders
Parkinson’s Disease
Essential tremor
Dystonia