The surgeons

Prepared 4 September 2026 by Kya for her partner and the patient. It summarises what public sources say about the surgeons who would most likely operate on a cavernous sinus skull base tumour at each unit. Sources are hospital profiles, published papers, fellowship registers, society pages and review sites; the full detail with links is in research thread 09. Where something is inference rather than documented fact, it says so. Individual surgeon outcome figures are not published in the UK, so this cannot say who is the better surgeon. It can say who is trained in what, who publishes on what, and which questions will get the answer that matters.

Who would most likely operate

Derriford (Plymouth)

• Mr Samiul Muquit, consultant neurosurgeon. Qualified Barts 2002, FRCS 2013, skull base and pituitary training at the Walton Centre (Liverpool), consultant since 2016, the unit's lead for pituitary and skull base surgery and a core member of its skull base MDT. Named in the patient's Derriford MDT outcome of 3 September as the consultant to see her in clinic.
• Mr Aditaya Kumar, consultant neurosurgeon. Two-year anterior and lateral skull base fellowship in Glasgow (2022 to 2024); consultant only since about 2024.
• Prof Hisham Khalil (consultant ENT, 22 years, trained under Draf in Germany) or Mr Marios Stavrakas (consultant ENT, Amsterdam and Derriford trained, runs the ENT skull base fellowship) as the nasal-side surgeon.

Southampton (Wessex Neurological Centre)

• Mr Nijaguna Mathad, consultant neurosurgeon since 2003. Introduced endoscopic endonasal surgery at Southampton around 2004 and has led it since; the longest personal endonasal track record on either side.
• Mr Christoforos Syrris, consultant neurosurgeon, pituitary and skull base. Newly appointed after the King's College London endoscopic skull base fellowship (2024 to 2025), a unit that does treat clival chordoma. The post was advertised in February 2026.
• Mr Emad Shenouda is listed on the hospital website as chair of the skull base MDT (Manchester skull base fellowship), with a spinal and open lateral skull base practice. On 5 September the neurosurgery registrar told the family he is no longer at the hospital, so the website is out of date and the MDT has a different chair, to be confirmed with the team.
• Prof Diederik Bulters is neurovascular, not endonasal. That matters if the carotid artery is involved, and it corrects an earlier note in our own research.
• Prof Rami Salib, consultant ENT since 2009, Amsterdam anterior skull base fellowship, faculty on the Guildford skull base course. His stated practice is mainly inflammatory sinus disease with "increasing" skull base exposure.

The strongest evidence at each unit

Plymouth has the only hard volume figure found for either unit. Its Royal College of Surgeons accredited fellowship register quotes, per year, 30 to 40 transsphenoidal operations and 5 to 10 extended endonasal approaches, with the ENT fellowship quoting 10 to 20 anterior skull base procedures. The ENT and neurosurgery team publishes together on exactly the reconstruction this operation would need (nasoseptal flap, 2026) and on clival and sinonasal disease, and co-edited an anterior skull base textbook.

Southampton has the longer history: endonasal surgery since about 2004, a 2014 paper reporting 151 endonasal skull base patients, hosting the British Skull Base Society meeting in 2011, and a new fellowship-trained skull base appointment this year. It also has the largest neurovascular practice in the UK in the same building, which is a real advantage if the tumour involves the carotid.

What could not be found

• Personal case numbers for pituitary, extended endonasal, cavernous sinus or chordoma surgery for any of the surgeons.
• Any chordoma or chondrosarcoma operated on and published by either unit.
• Any per-surgeon outcome figures (resection rate, CSF leak rate, nerve injury, return to theatre). These are not published in the UK.
• Southampton's current annual endonasal volume. The 2026 job advert would state it; the unit can be asked.
• Anyone from either unit named on the National Chordoma and Chondrosarcoma Skull Base MDT, the proton referral panel or the British Skull Base Society council.
• Any fitness-to-practise history for anyone. None found; the register itself could not be searched directly.

Patient review sites give high scores for Mr Shenouda, Prof Salib and Mr Muquit on small numbers of reviews. That is weak evidence and says nothing about skull base outcomes.

What this means

Both units have credible, fellowship-trained endonasal pairs. Neither has a public track record with chordoma or cavernous sinus tumours specifically. A unit doing 5 to 10 extended endonasal cases a year across all diagnoses sees a skull base chordoma rarely, and that is probably true of both, because the whole UK sees roughly 30 to 40 skull base chordomas a year spread across 18 referring units (inference from the national cohort in research 07).

Two things follow.

1. The case must go to the National Chordoma and Chondrosarcoma Skull Base MDT whichever unit holds it, and the family should ask whether surgery, if needed, should be done where that MDT's surgeons sit rather than at either regional unit.
2. The personal case count has to be asked of the named surgeon, in the room, and written down. It is the one number that predicts complete removal and it is not published anywhere.

Questions for each surgeon or unit

1. Who exactly would operate, neurosurgeon and ENT surgeon by name, and how many endoscopic endonasal operations beyond the pituitary fossa have you personally done in the last three years?
2. How many skull base chordomas or chondrosarcomas have you personally operated on, and how many has the unit referred to the proton panel since 2017?
3. For a lesion in and around the cavernous sinus, would you biopsy first or go straight to resection, and by which route? What is your unit's CSF leak rate after extended endonasal surgery? The national figure is about 7 percent.
4. Will this case go to the National Chordoma and Chondrosarcoma Skull Base MDT before any operation, and who sends that referral?
5. If the tumour encases the carotid artery, who manages that, and is there a neurovascular surgeon in your skull base MDT?
6. Is the named surgeon operating regularly now, and would a trainee or fellow do any part of the operation?
7. Where do you send patients whose skull base tumour you would not operate on yourself, and would you consider this one of them?
8. Can we have the MDT outcome in writing, including the histology plan, the named surgeon and the proton referral route?

Sources

Hospital consultant profiles (University Hospitals Plymouth; University Hospital Southampton), the RCS accredited fellowship register, PubMed and publisher records for the papers named, the British Skull Base Society site, review sites (Doctify, iWantGreatCare), and the national chordoma cohort (Glancz 2024, BMJ Oncology). Full list with links: research thread 09, em-research/09-surgeons.md.