Pituitary and Central Skull Base Unit

Queen Square has a unique heritage in pituitary surgery. In the late 1890s, Sir Victor Horsley performed some of the earliest pituitary operations in the world, establishing this centre as one of the pioneers of modern pituitary and skull base surgery.

The Pituitary and Central Skull Base Unit is a clinical and academic unit within the Department of Neurosurgery at the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology.

Our surgeons perform the highest volume of endoscopic transnasal procedures in the UK and are leaders in developing advanced skull base techniques for a wide range of conditions. These include benign pathologies such as pituitary adenomas, Rathke’s cleft cysts, craniopharyngiomas and meningiomas, as well as malignant lesions including chordomas, chondrosarcomas and olfactory neuroblastomas.

Our research programme is very active, focusing on technologies to further improve the safety and effectiveness of skull base techniques, and on understanding the genetic basis of these diseases with the aim of developing novel therapies. We provide training programmes for surgeons at all stages, from first-day registrar to subspecialty consultant level.