Mr Neil Dorward, Neurosurgeon
Areas of expertise
- Endoscopic surgery
- Minimally invasive spinal surgery
- Spinal surgery
- Cervical disc replacement
- Brain tumours
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Address
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG
About Mr Neil Dorward
GMC number: 3405581
Year qualified: 1989
Place of primary qualification: University of London
Areas of expertise
- Back pain
- Brain surgery
- Brain tumours
- Cervical disc replacement
- Cervical discectomy
- Craniotomy for glioma
- Endoscopic procedures
- Endoscopic surgery
- Endoscopic ventricular surgery
- Fusion surgery
- Image-guided neurosurgery
- Lumbar microdiscectomy
- Meningioma
- Minimally invasive spinal surgery
- Neck pain
- Neuro spinal
- Neurological oncology
- Neurooncology
- Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation
- Pituitary region surgery
- Pituitary surgery
- Sciatica
- Scioliosis
- Spinal decompressions
- Spinal fixation
- Spinal surgery
- Spinal tumours
- Stereotactic biopsy
- Ultrasound elastography
- Ventriculostomy
Frequently asked questions
What are the common symptoms that your patients tend to present with?
There are two different parts of my practice, and so they present with different features. The pituitary patients most often present with deteriorating vision, with a loss of field, a gradual progressive loss of the outer parts of their field of vision, coming in towards the centre and then maybe even losing sight in one of their eyes. This would be the commonest pituitary presentation.
The other side of my practice is degenerative spinal surgery, and so the majority of those patients present with the symptoms of spinal nerve root compression such as sciatica or spinal cord compression where they have increasing loss of function in hand, fine finger function and unsteadiness of gait.
Of all the patient groups, the biggest would be the patients presenting with either sciatica or arm pain from nerve compression.
What are the treatments that you're able to offer your patients?
As a surgeon, my treatments are surgical. On the pituitary surgery side of my practice, I do fully endoscopic pituitary surgery. It's a minimal access operation up the nose to remove tumours around the pituitary region.
In spinal surgery, I offer the full range of decompression operations to relieve pressure on the nerve, disc replacement (particularly cervical disc replacement gives very good results). I do a lot of disc replacement and I'm one of the biggest users of disc replacements by numbers. Then there are the complex spinal fixations that I do for patients with very deteriorated lumbar spine who needs screws and rods and fusion operations.
What are your areas of sub-specialist interest?
My areas of interest are around the central skull based endoscopic surgery, going beyond the pituitary surgery to do more intracranial surgeries which is extended transsphenoidal operating, and complex spine surgery. Central skull base surgery is generally around removing tumours near the skull base that are going up into the third ventricle, pushing up into the brain. These are very difficult to get at with standard surgical techniques. Hence, the endoscopic route provides an excellent corridor to get to them.
Professional memberships


Articles by Mr Neil Dorward
Precise cannulation of the foramen ovale in trigeminal neuralgia complicating osteogenesis imperfecta with basilar invagination