Kristian Aqualina is a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon based in Great Ormond Street, London. He graduated from the University of Malta in 1995, completing his neurosurgical training in Bristol in 2009.
During this time he carried out significant research into post germinal matrix haemorrhage hydrocephalus in premature babies. He published widely in this field and was awarded an MD (Doctor of Medicine) from the University of Bristol. After this he completed a one-year clinical fellowship in paediatric neuro-oncology, at St Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
He was appointed Consultant Neurosurgeon in Bristol in 2010 but moved to Great Ormond Street Hospital two years later. He is the department lead for neuro-oncology and spasticity and operates on over 70 paediatric brain tumours per year.
He also has a sub-specialty interest in the management of spasticity and set up the selective dorsal rhizotomy service for cerebral palsy in Bristol, and subsequently, in collaboration with the Wolfson tertiary neurodisability service, at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
His principal research interests include brain tumours in children, particularly in relation to clinical outcomes and imaging, intraventricular haemorrhage in preterm babies, hydrocephalus, and the outcomes of selective dorsal rhizotomy for spasticity in children with cerebral palsy.
Mr Aquilina has an interest in neurosurgical training and is the educational supervisor for the neurosurgical registrars and fellows in the departmen
Consultation Languages: Maltese, English Registered as an Expert Witness: Functional MRI
Intra-operative neurophysiology
Private ward
Aquilina K, Daniels DJ, Spoudeas H, Phipps K, Gan HW, Boop FA. Optic pathway glioma in children: does visual deficit correlate with radiology in focal exophytic lesions? Childs Nerv Syst. 2015 Nov;31(11):2041-9.Gan HW, Phipps K, Aquilina K, Gaze MN, Hayward R, Spoudeas HA. Neuroendocrine Morbidity After Pediatric Optic Gliomas: A Longitudinal Analysis of 166 Children Over 30 Years. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015 Oct;100(10):3787-99. Aquilina K, Graham D, Wimalasundera N. Selective dorsal rhizotomy: an old treatment re-emerging. Arch Dis Child. 2015 Aug;100(8):798-802. Aquilina K, Chakkarapani E, Thoresen M. Early deterioration of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in a neonatal piglet model of intraventricular hemorrhage and posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2012 Dec;10(6):529-37. Aquilina K, Pople IK, Sacree J, Carter MR, Edwards RJ. The constant flow ventricular infusion test: a simple and useful study in the diagnosis of third ventriculostomy failure. J Neurosurg. 2012 Feb;116(2):445-52
Aquilina K, Boop FA. Nonneoplastic enlargement of the pituitary gland in children. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2011 May;7(5):510-5Whitelaw A, Aquilina K. Management of posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2012 May;97(3):F229-3.
