Brain tumours are sadly the most common type of tumour in children. Early warning signs include headaches, vomiting or seizures. Our consultants will use a range of diagnostic methods to try to quickly locate and identify any tumour including CT/MRI scans, blood tests and biopsies. They may then recommend surgery or steroids/medication for your child, depending on the size and location of the tumour. At HCA Healthcare UK, you’ll have all the right experts at hand to help deliver the best possible outcomes, care and support for your child and your whole family.
Brain surgery
Providing world-class care for brain conditions and injury
About brain surgery
For any patient visiting our hospitals to undergo treatment for a brain condition or injury, we fully appreciate you and your family will be going through a particularly difficult time. You can have complete confidence knowing you will be cared for by the very best neurosurgeons and specialist nursing teams in the country.
At The Harley Street Clinic, The Wellington Hospital and London Bridge Hospital, we have fully-equipped operating theatres, the largest private intensive care units, out-of-hours imaging, consultant neurosurgeon on-call and dedicated neurosurgical nursing teams and wards to care. Because of this, we are among the very few private hospitals in London who can perform complex brain surgery.
Finding the right diagnosis and treatment for you
Brain tumours
Brain haemorrhage
Brain aneurysm
Intracranial or cerebral aneurysm - a bulge that forms in the blood vessels of your brain.
Stroke
HCA UK provides a multi-disciplinary neurorehabilitation recovery programme for those who have had a stroke.
In the event of an acute stroke please call 999 attend your nearest emergency department.
Hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus is a build-up of excess cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles within your child’s brain, causing increased pressure in their skull. This condition is sometimes present from birth but it can also happen because of something like a head injury, an infection or a tumour. The most common treatment for hydrocephalus is using a shunt or tube to drain excess fluid into another part of the body. Our specialist teams are here to support your child from diagnosis to treatment.
Chiari malformation
Structural defects in the base of the skull and cerebellum. A congenital neurological condition that can cause neurological problems including balance.
Syringmyelia
If you have syringomyelia, leading HCA UK neurosurgeons can treat the condition surgically
Headaches and migraine service
Although it’s common for children to have headaches, in some cases they can become problematic enough to affect a child’s quality of life making it important to get to the root cause of the problem. That might involve tests such as an MRI, CT scan and blood tests. Our specialists can go on to create a treatment plan which may include medication, physiotherapy, lifestyle recommendations and ongoing rehabilitation.
Facial pain
Recurrent pain around the head, temple and face. Facial pain, either acute or chronic, is often difficult to manage since no visible cause can be found in many cases.
Epilepsy
Epileptic seizures. Epilepsy is a general term for seizures that start in the brain - find out how our neurologists can help.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for dystonia
HCA UK offers deep brain stimulation, which can help relieve tremors caused by dystonia in many patients
Deep brain stimulation to control epileptic seizures
Neurostimulation, HCA UK offers deep brain stimulation (DBS) implants to help control the symptoms of epilepsy
Deep brain stimulation to control parkinsons disease
Neurostimulation for Parkinson's disease. HCA UK offers deep brain stimulation (DBS) implants to help control problems with movement.
Deep brain stimulation for essential tremor
DBS for involuntary shaking. HCA UK offers deep brain stimulation to help control symptoms of essential tremor, such as involuntary shaking
Deep brain stimulation for chronic pain
DBS to manage chronic pain, HCA UK offers deep brain stimulation for chronic pain where medication is no longer effective.
Services for children
Paediatric neurosurgery
We were the first private hospital in the UK to treat children with brain tumours. We also treat children with hydrocephalus, spina bifida, brain haemorrhages and congenital problems through to acute neurological rehabilitation for children with head injuries at The Portland Hospital.
Meet the team of consultants who specialise in brain surgery
At our hospitals, you’ll see a neurosurgeon who subspecialises in exactly what you need. They will discuss your diagnosis and treatment plan with as many as twenty other senior clinicians. It’s their combined skill and judgement that delivers the best outcomes for patients.
We have more teaching hospital neurosurgeons working in HCA UK than any other private hospital group. Our consultant neurosurgeons choose to work in our hospitals because we have the clinical governance, exceptional levels of safety, multidisciplinary teams, clinical expertise and specialist nursing teams to deliver outstanding care.
Innovative specialist treatments
We are one of the few private hospital groups to have surgically implanted an electrode into the brain to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
We have also treated movement disorders such as spasticity with deep brain stimulation. And our treatment for brain tumours includes the latest vaccines, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and also immunotherapy.
Pioneering technology
From highly specialist diagnostic imaging to ultrasonic surgical aspirators, and computer-assisted technology used by our neurosurgeons to navigate within the brain during surgery, we invest in the most cutting-edge technology available.
At The Harley Street Clinic we are pioneering progressive immunotherapy treatment for brain tumours. We remove tumour cells from the patient, make antibodies of that tumour, refine them and put them back into the patient to attack and destroy the tumour cells while protecting the healthy tissue.
At The Harley Street Clinic we are pioneering progressive immunotherapy treatment for brain tumours. We remove tumour cells from the patient, make antibodies of that tumour, refine them and put them back into the patient to attack and destroy the tumour cells while protecting the healthy tissue.
State-of-the-art intraoperative MRI for neurosurgery
As part of HCA Healthcare UK’s continued investment in the latest medical technology, The Wellington Hospital’s Neurosurgery Centre is now equipped with an intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) scanner and fully integrated digital theatre.
The iMRI scanner allows surgeons to carry out an intraoperative MRI scan of their patient’s brain during their surgery. This gives the surgeon confidence that they have achieved their treatment goal. It also provides our patients with the best possible chance of tumours being removed fully without the need for further surgery.
Visualase® treatment for brain tumours
HCA UK continues to push boundaries, being the first private healthcare provider in London to offer Visualase®, a minimally-invasive brain tumour treatment that requires a small incision and offers faster recovery than open surgery.
The MRI-guided treatment is administered by leading neurosurgeons at The Harley Street Clinic. Consultants use the Stealth Autoguide cranial robotic system for this procedure, allowing consultants to administer Visualase® treatment with careful precision and accuracy, while cutting down operating times.
Gamma Knife treatment
The London Gamma Knife Centre at The Wellington Hospital offers progressive, non-invasive treatment to patients with benign and malignant brain tumours, as well as other brain conditions such as vascular disorders, Parkinson's tremor and severe facial pain.
This state-of-the-art technology delivers gamma rays to treat tumours in the brain, with unparalleled precision and without the need for surgery. Patients can normally go home the same day, after treatment.
London Neurosurgery Partnership
HCA UK is incredibly proud to be working so closely with the London Neurosurgery Partnership, a group spinal and cranial neurosurgeons who have come together to deliver world-class neurosurgical treatment.
Each consultant is recognised as a super-specialist in their area of expertise. You can rest assured that you, or your family member, will receive the best possible care no matter how serious your condition may be.
Our Brain surgery locations
The Wellington Hospital
8A Wellington Place NW8 9LE London
London Bridge Hospital
27 Tooley Street SE1 2PR London
The Harley Street Clinic
35 Weymouth Street W1G 8BJ London
The Shard Outpatients
The Shard, 32 St Thomas Street SE1 9BS London
This content is intended for general information only and does not replace the need for personal advice from a qualified health professional.