Mr Kristian Aquilina

Mr Aquilina is a Neurosurgeon based in London working as a consultant at the world renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Mr Aquilina graduated from the University of Malta in 1995. He completed his Neurosurgical training in Bristol in 2010 including original research on intraventricular haemorrhage and hydrocephalus in premature babies, leading to a doctorate in medicine from the University of Bristol. He also completed a one-year clinical fellowship in the United States focusing on paediatric neurosurgery, with particular focus on brain tumours in children, 

Mr Aquilina was appointed Consultant Adult and Paediatric Neurosurgeon at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol in 2010. In November 2012 he was appointed Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital where he is surgical lead for neuro-oncology. 

Mr Aquilina’s principal clinical and research interests include the management of spasticity in cerebral palsy, brain tumours in children, hydrocephalus and neuro-endoscopy. In 2009 and 2010 and was the first neurosurgeon to undertake Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) in the UK. This is a surgery which can help patients with spastic cerebral palsy. He launched the SDR service in Bristol, Great Ormond Street Hospital and at the Portland Hospital.

Mr Aquilina specialises in the single-level approach for SDR and has to date performed over 60 cases. The single-level procedure, developed by Dr Park in the 1990s, allows rapid recovery and early return to intensive physiotherapy. It also reduces the long-term risk of spinal complications. This technique, with careful patient selection and post-operative therapy by an experienced multidisciplinary team is the key to successful SDR, a life-changing difference to the child with cerebral palsy spasticity.