What is paediatric neurosurgery?

Paediatric neurosurgery includes the evaluation, diagnosis, operative and non-operative treatment, critical care and rehabilitation of children with disorders of the nervous system. If a child has problems involving the head, spine or nervous system then a paediatric neurosurgeon is the specialist with the experience and qualifications to treat the child.

The neurological problems treated by paediatric neurosurgeons are quite different from those seen by an adult or general neurosurgeons. Paediatric neurosurgical problems are often present for life and children with nervous system problems require ongoing and close follow-up throughout childhood and adolescence. The most common diseases are deformities of the head or of the spine, problems and injuries of the brain, spine or nerves or birth injury or defect.

Services Offered

• Spina bifida (myelomeningocele, lipomyelomeningocele) / tethered cord
• Hydrocephalus (term describing excess fluid in the brain due to various causes)
• Minimally invasive neurosurgery/neuroendoscopy (for hydrocephalus, arachnoid cyst, tumor biopsy)
• Paediatric neuroncology (tumors of brain/orbit, spine and spinal cord in children)
• Craniofacial anomalies/ craniosynostoses (abnormal shapes of head and associated problems)
• Cerebral infections (abscess, tuberculosis, meningitis, ventriculitis)
• Neurosurgical problems in neonates (hydrocephalus, myelomeningocele, infections, tumors, congenital anomalies)
• Antenatal counselling for fetal neurological pathologies/ fetal intervention
• Paediatric spine pathologies, scoliosis correction
• Paediatric epilepsy
• Paediatric head injury
• Paediatric rehabilitation for neurological problems
• Paediatric vascular malformations

How do paediatric brain tumours differ from adults?

There are many different types of tumours, their locations and the treatments used to manage them. The majority of tumours in children are found in the back part of the brain (the posterior fossa) and most adult tumours are found in the cerebral hemispheres. Most of the brain tumours that occur in adults are ones that have spread from other parts of the body. In children, the brain tumours usually start from the brain.