Celebrating 50 years of ground-breaking neurosurgery at Addenbrookes in Cambridge

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Since the first patient was treated by neurosurgeons at Addenbrooke's 50 years ago, some of most cutting-edge techniques have developed which have become known about around the world.

This ground-breaking care includes the removal of an incredibly rare cranial tapeworm, which lived in a British man's brain for four years before it was discovered.

Before surgeons at Addenbrooke's found and removed the 1cm-long parasite, it left the 50-year-old man in pain and with memory problems as it travelled 5cm from the right side of his brain to the left.

The rare worm was of a type never before found in the UK but it is believed people can become infected by accidentally eating tiny infected crustaceans from lakes, eating raw meat from reptiles and amphibians, or by using a raw frog poultice a Chinese remedy to calm sore eyes.

This procedure along with many others including removing brain tumours whilst the patient is still awake and using a special 'pink drink' dye which stains cancerous tissue in the brain, both of which help to protect healthy brain tissue, have led to the hospital to becoming world renowned.

Other cutting-edge techniques include 3D printing to provide bespoke body parts, developing new sensors to help better understand brain chemistry and a potential new treatment for Parkinsons based on implanting cells.

Professor Peter Hutchinson, the academic lead of the team of 17 consultants in neurosurgery at Addenbrooke's, said: "Our success is testament to the benefits of continued close links between the Trust and the University of Cambridge.

"The Department has been here for just over 50 years and we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible. This success is testament to the endeavours of Mr Walpole Lewin, the first neurosurgeon is Cambridge and subsequent consultants including Mr David Hardy, Professors John Pickard and Alastair Compton."

Since the first patient was treated on the Addenbrooke's site on October 3, 1961, the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at CUH has become a world-renowned regional centre of excellence and provides services for nearly five million people.

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Celebrating 50 years of ground-breaking neurosurgery at Addenbrookes in Cambridge