Neurosurgery
The regional neurosurgical unit for South Trent, previously based in Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, moved to the Queen's Medical Centre in 1985. QMC is now one of the busiest neurosurgical departments in the country. We provide both adult and paediatric services to a wide regional area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire with catchment population of around 3 million.
Nottingham neurosurgical team is led by 13 consultants providing treatment for all the major subspecialties of neurosurgery. Our highly specialised unit carries around 2000 neurosurgical emergency, urgent and elective operations a year. We are vital part of the East midlands trauma service and major trauma unit. We run 3 modern and fully equipped theatres and have access to one emergency theatre every day. The department is well equipped with up-to-date neuro navigation systems, intraoperative ultrasound, 5-ALA and ICG enabled microscopes and endoscopes, neurophysiology and intraoperative function mapping technologies. Our latest addition state of art Intraoperative MRI will help to provide best care for our patients.
Research and Innovation
Nottingham has consistently been a significant contributor to key multicentre neurosurgical studies and we continue that trend.
We were the largest sole contributor to the International Sub Arachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) which revolutionised the management of ruptured cerebral aneurysms, and contributed patients to the steering committee of the STICH trial looking at the role of surgery in intracerebral haemorrhage. We were actively involved in RESCUE ICP trial, BASICS trial and DEx CSDH trials and many more.
In neuro-oncology we have participated in the evaluation of new therapies for brain tumours including Gliadel implantable chemotherapy and a novel Gene Therapy study for gliomas. Paul Byrne had lead a project to develop a neurosurgical robot , funded by the Department of Trade and Industry. Nottingham is part of a Functional Imaging Network which is steadily accruing and sharing data which allows detailed characterisation of brain tumours noninvasively.
In functional neurosurgery we were active involved in national trial of surgery for Parkinson's disease and PROMISE study for spinal cord stimulators. Michael Vloeberghs is internationally recognised as having one of the largest series in the world of children with spastic cerebral palsy treated with continuous intrathecal baclofen and spinal dorsal rhizotomy. Children are referred here for this from as far afield as Scotland and Wales.
Clinical Work
Whilst all operations (around 2000 / year, 280 of them in children) are performed at QMC, staff from the unit here also carry out weekly Outpatient clinics in Leicester General Hospital and Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. Neurosurgery is a specialty with a very high proportion of emergency and urgent work and adult and paediatric referrals come from hospitals throughout Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
Contact us
For general enquiries call 0115 924 9924 Ext: 82254.