Background and History

The paediatric neurosurgical service is based at Red Cross Childrens Hospital in Cape Town, which is the only dedicated children's hospital on the African continent. It is the only unit for paediatric neurosurgery in South Africa. We believe strongly that children with neurosurgical conditions are optimally treated by pediatric neurosurgeons with a detailed understanding and experience with their conditions.

Dr Warwick Peacock was appointed the first full-time paediatric neurosurgeon in 1979 and pioneered the operation of selective dorsal rhizotomy at the hospital. In 1985 Professor Jonathan C. Peter followed Professor Peacock in the position and further advanced the subspeciality of paediatric neurosurgery in South Africa, becoming the first South African president of the International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery. Graham Fieggen followed Prof Peter as Head of Paediatric Neurosurgery in 1997. With Prof Fieggen being appointed to Head of Division of Neurosurgery, the paediatric neurosurgical service is now being run by Tony Figaji.

Current Service

The service is currently run Dr Tony Figaji, although Prof Fieggen and emeritus Prof Jonathan Peter remian actively involved. More than 300 operations are performed annually at the hospital. Although most of the patients are received from the Western Cape region, patients from other parts of the country as well as elsewhere in Africa are also treated here. The unit is commited to improving education, research and most importantly, the care of children in South Africa who have brain tumours, hydrocephalus, head injuries, developmental anomalies, spasticity, and all other neurosurgical conditions. In addition to the many general paediatric neurosurgical operations performed, the service includes endoscopy, stereotactic surgery, epilepsy surgery and functional spinal surgery.

Paediatric Neurosurgery is part of the Division of Paediatric Neurosciences in the School of Child and Adolescent Health at UCT. Particular research interests of the team include: traumatic brain injury, tuberculous meningitis, epilepsy surgery, selective dorsal rhizotomy, conjoined twins, spinal dysraphism, and neuro-endoscopy. For the past two years the division has held national neuroendoscopy worshops, run by Drs Fieggen, Figaji and Semple, training neurosurgeons from all over the country. National workshops on pediatric brain monitoring have similaly been started. The unit is the recipient of a grant from the Swedish-South Africa Links Programme in collaboration with Lund University in Sweden, investigating aspects of paediatric brain injury; the unit is also involved in collaborative reseach with the University of Pennsylvania (US) and Cambridge university (UK).

The Paediatric Neurosurgery Division is proudly hosting the 36th annual ISPN meeting in Cape Town in 2008.

Research

The paediatric neurosurgery division is actively involved in a number of areas of research that focus on diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord affecting children. Particular attention is placed on conditions common to children in a developing world environment. These include diverse subjects such as head injury, tuberculous meningitis, congenital anomalies, spasticity, brain infections, childhood brain tumours, and many others. We are constantly seeking to improve our understanding of these complex disorders and advance the methods that we have available to treat children more effectively. To accomplish this, we have a number of existing research projects in progress at the Red Cross Childrens Hospital, as well as collaborative studies with other premier centres overseas. We are constantly looking for research support from donors, given the constraints in the public sector, as well as involvement of other interested researchers. All support is directed through the Children's Hospital Trust, which is based at the hospital, and who can be contacted for further details. For more details on the various projects that we run, please contact Tony Figaji

Outpatient Services

To be seen as an outpatient, bookings can be made for the following clinics. Alternatively, you can contact the respective secretaries for adult and paediatric sections for more information. Patients are seen at a number of clinics staffed by neurosurgeons with clinicians from radiotherapy, paediatrics, orthopaedics, urology, and plastic surgery. These include: