History of neurosurgery at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

The recent move of the neurosurgical services from The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in Hampstead to The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Queen Square signified the end of an era of neurosurgery in North London. It also represents also another chapter in the history of the remarkable North London hospital that is The Royal Free Hospital. This short article looks at the history of the Department of Neurosurgery at The Royal Free Hospital and the factors contributing to the reorganisation of neurosurgical services in North London.

Intradural migration of sequestrated disc fragment during decompression of cauda equina.

We report the case of a man who underwent urgent surgery to relieve compression of the cauda equina caused by a large L4/5 disc protrusion. A post-operative but not pre-operative MRI scan showed appearances suggestive of intradural migration of a disc fragment, confirmed at re-operation. We believe that this event happened during the first operation and not before it.