Bob's praise for Tom Carroll and the Skull Based Endoscope

Yet another story about the fantastic equipment that Neurocare fund for the Royal Hallamshire Hospital with your help and our fabulous Neurosurgeon, Tom Carroll

A top Sheffield health charity has announced its aim to buy new cutting edge surgical equipment which will help revolutionise complicated brain operations and dramatically reduce operating times.

Neurocare wants to raise £70,000 to bring a new skull base endoscope, the most advanced of its kind in the world, to the neurosciences department at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

The new endoscope will allow surgeons to operate more easily on life threatening brain tumours in the skull base, which are particularly hard to reach.

Currently doctors operating on a skull base tumour must either open up a patient’s face or head or use less sophisticated endoscopes to up through the patient’s nose.

An endoscope is a lighted optical instrument used to get a deep look inside the body, but the hospital’s existing skull base endoscopes need to be regularly cleaned in-theatre, making their use limited.

The new state-of-the-art endoscope and associated equipment, pioneered in America, is self cleaning, cutting operating times dramatically and increasing the circumstances in which it can be used.

Tom Carroll, consultant neurosurgeon at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said: “Endoscopes have been used in medicine for more than 100 years. But it is only in the last couple of years they have been used in brain surgery. Our current equipment requires regular cleaning during an operation and has other limitations, making procedures excessively long and therefore increasing the risk of complications and increasing hospital stay.”

“The new equipment is truly market leading and will make operations much quicker and safer for patients.”

“It is only thanks to charities like Neurocare that we are able to bring healthcare equipment like this to Sheffield. I would urge people to come forward and give generously to the appeal to bring it to the city, enhancing our growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading centres for neurosurgery.”

Neurocare’s campaign to bring the new equipment to Sheffield is being backed by Robert Simm, who underwent a 12 hour operation on a tumour in the base of his skull in 2007.

Robert, aged 55, from Newby, Scarborough, said: “When I was diagnosed with a brain tumour I was absolutely terrified, particularly when I found out it was malignant. I hadn’t been ill at all until I started suffering from headaches and double vision, so to be told I would have to undergo a very long, life threatening operation was a real shock.”

“Having undergone tests in Hull, I was transferred to the neurosurgery team at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital, who are real experts in their field. Thanks to the skill of my surgeon, Tom Carroll, they managed to safely remove almost all of my tumour using an endoscope without cutting my face. The rest of the tumour was removed using gamma knife treatment, also at Sheffield.”

“I can’t explain how grateful I am towards the people who helped save my life. Now I want to do all I can to raise awareness of Neurocare and its project to raise funds for this cutting edge equipment, which will go a long way towards making the operations quicker and safer for more patients like me.”