Mr Ian Sabin, Neurosurgeon
Areas of expertise
- Skull base surgery
- Neuro-oncology
- Gamma knife radiosurgery
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- Minimally invasive spinal surgery
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Address
Barts Health NHS Trust
Trust headquarters, Executive Offices, Ground Floor, Pathology and Pharmacy Building, London, Greater London, E1 2ES
About Mr Ian Sabin
GMC number: 2553225
Year qualified: 1981
Place of primary qualification: University of Dundee
Areas of expertise
- Gamma knife radiosurgery (including acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, cerebral secondary deposits, vascular malformations, trigeminal neuralgia)
- Skull base surgery (including acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, glomus tumours, pituitary tumours, trigeminal neuralgia)
- Neuro-oncology (including cerebral secondary tumours, primary brain tumours, gliomas)
- Cervical spine surgery (including disc protrusion, brachialgia, nerve root entrapment, spinal cord, compression, cervical spondylosis, neck pain)
- Lumbar spine surgery (including disc protrusion, sciatica, spinal stenosis, back pain, leg pain)
- Minimally invasive spinal surgery
Frequently asked questions
What are the common symptoms that your patients tend to present with?
The symptoms vary quite a bit because intracranial tumours present in a number of different ways. The most common symptoms would be hearing loss, headaches, dizziness, problems with higher mental and executive function, among many different types of symptoms depending on where the lesions are in the brain.
In terms of my spinal practice, it tends to be neck pain, arm pain, back pain, leg pain, among others.
What are the treatments that you're able to offer your patients?
I do a full range of intracranial neurosurgery, removing tumours surgically, but I also offer radiosurgical treatments with a gamma knife. A lot of the tumours we used to operate on are now treated with radiosurgery instead which is a highly targeted form of radiotherapy, normally undertaken in just one day of treatment as a day case.
For the spinal procedures, I can offer surgery when needed, but most of the time we don’t need to operate. I can advise on physiotherapy. I can advise on pain relief procedures that stop short of surgery.
What are your areas of sub-specialist interest?
My subspecialist interests are neurooncology, the full range of intracranial tumours and pituitary surgery. I introduced endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery to the UK about 20 years ago which is now universally adopted. I offer treatment for trigeminal neuralgia using endoscopes which is becoming more common but wasn't when I started. I offer radiation treatment. I'm the medical director for the gamma knife unit and we treat a variety of conditions with radiation now.
With the spinal operations, I offer any surgery in the neck, cervical spine, discectomies, fusions, decompressions of nerves, among others. In the lumbar spine, I do minimally invasive surgeries for lumbar discs.
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