Spine Clinic: Diagnostic & Interventional Spinal Care

Diagnostic & Interventional Spine Clinic Consultants

Consultants

Mr Iqroop Chopra

Consultant Spinal Neurosurgeon
MBBS, MRCSEd, FRCS(SN), DNB

Mr Iqroop Chopra is a Consultant Neurospinal Surgeon, specialises in neuro spinal surgery at Vale Healthcare, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan's leading private hospital and private clinics for spinal surgery serving all South Wales.

Iqroop completed his medical degree and initial post-graduation in India. Further training was done on the North Thames rotation at Imperial College and University College of London. The last two years of training were spent learning about complex spinal surgery with an accredited fellowship staged between Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore and National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London. This gave a unique opportunity into the understanding of spinal pathology from both an orthopaedic and neurosurgical perspective. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and member of various spinal societies around the world.

A leading spinal surgeon, Mr Chopra is the first and only spinal fellowship trained neurosurgeon in Wales with targeted training in microscopic and minimally invasive techniques. These are applied into his practice in skull base procedures and intricate spinal dissection helping treat complications like CSF leak, recurrent discs, arachnoiditis and skeletal instability. He has specific interests in cervical and lumbar spinal fusions, artificial cervical disc replacement, spinal tumours - intradural and extradural, syringomyelia and Chiari malformation.

Iqroop has research interests in degenerative cervical disc disease: fusion verses arthroplasty and neural tissue regeneration. He is actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and has been a faculty on FRCS Spinal revision course and AO Instructors’ course.

Mr Paul Rhys Davies

Consultant Spinal Surgeon
MB BS (Lond) FRCS Orth Eng

Mr Paul Rhys Davies is a senior consultant spinal surgeon in South Wales, bringing vast experience and expertise to his private consultant practice, offering specialist spine surgery at Vale Healthcare, South Wales leading private hospital and private clinics in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Mr Davies is Cardiff born, trained at Westminster Medical School, London, UK before moving on to St Thomas` Hospital for general surgery. His spinal surgical training was carried out at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, the N.O.C. Oxford and at the Queens Medical Centre Spine Unit in Nottingham. He was awarded a specialist scoliosis travelling fellowship to Minneapolis in the USA and also visited the Spine Unit in Berck, France as an addition. The breadth of his training as you can see is vast and he has picked up all the best techniques from each of these centres on the way! Mr Davies is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (London) and is a Council member of the British Scoliosis Society.

Mr Davies was the first whole time fellowship trained spinal surgeon to be appointed in Wales over ten years ago. Since his appointment to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and Llandough Hospital, South Wales, the spinal unit in Cardiff has grown and developed into one of the top spinal units in the UK and now has both a national and international reputation for excellence in the treatment of spinal pathologies. Mr Davies is the senior member of the department and has been seminal in the evolution of the unit over the last ten years. The department now has five fully trained spinal surgeons and is one of the busiest spine units in the country.

The Cardiff spine unit, spearheaded by Mr Davies, has international recognition particularly in the field of pioneering state of the art surgery and research in basic sciences and clinical fields. It also has European recognition for the training of future spinal surgeons and is one of two centres in the UK with the European Reference licence. This means visitation and training of spinal fellows from both home and worldwide. Indeed Mr Davies has trained most of his own department at one time or other!

Cardiff now has such a reputation for spines that in 2006 Mr Davies and the unit were asked to host the Britspine meeting, the biggest spinal meeting in the UK involving all four of the main spine societies. This was duly organised by the local unit at the Cardiff International Arena in South Wales, with Mr Davies as the host chairman and was a great success.

Mr Paul Rhys Davies is regularly invited to lecture and operate at other spine centres in both the UK and abroad and is recognised as being an international thought leader particularly on new and innovative spinal techniques and clinical management of spinal conditions. He has operated abroad in countries such as Germany and Spain and recently carried out major scoliosis surgery on an orphan boy from Swaziland in Africa as a charity case within the Trust. Find out more about Scoliosis treatment at Vale Healthcare

Mr Stuart James

Consultant Spine Surgeon
BM, MRCS(Eng), FRCS(Orth)

Mr Stuart James is a Consultant Spinal Surgeon who runs private spinal and back pain clinics from Vale Healthcare's private hospital, Vale Hospital and Cardiff Bay Clinic in south Wales. Offering specialist consultation on all types of spinal conditions, Stuart's NHS practice is based in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, South Wales.

Stuart undertook his medical training in Southampton University, before returning home to Wales. Here he undertook his basic surgical training and also specialist training in Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, before undertaking further sub-specialist training in Spine Surgery.

Stuart has completed a recognised spine fellowship in Bristol, UK, where he has gained extensive experience in all aspects of spinal disease, from trauma and tumour work through to adult and paediatric complex deformity of the spine. As well as his spine specialist training in the UK, Stuart James has gained furher exposure and training in cutting edge contemporary spinal techniques in Europe and the USA.

Mr James’s practice is solely in the field of spine surgery. The services that he provides as a Spinal Consultant in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan include injection therapies as well as all aspects of open spine surgery. Areas of specific interest include, sports injuries, adult degenerative spinal disease, cervical disease, deformity, motion preservation surgery and microscopic assisted minimally invasive techniques.

Mr James is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and also a member British Association of Spine Surgeons and British Scoliosis Society. He has an active role in teaching, being an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Wales, and also AO spine faculty member as well as a tutor on the Royal College of Surgeons surgical skills and Orthopaedics courses. His research interests are in the role of minimally invasive surgery and its relationship to improved clinical outcomes.

Outside of Spine surgery, his interest are in sports particularly rugby, golf and tennis. He also enjoys traveling and family life.