Area of Expertise
Neurotrauma Care
Specialist assessment and surgical management of traumatic injuries to the brain, spine and nervous system, including injuries that were treated elsewhere and have not settled.
A new head or spine injury is an emergency
This page is about specialist assessment, not urgent care. Call 911 or go to an emergency department now if, after an injury, there is any of the following:
- Loss of consciousness, or someone who cannot be woken
- A seizure
- Repeated vomiting
- Confusion, agitation or unusual behaviour
- Weakness, numbness or clumsiness in an arm or leg
- Clear fluid or blood from the nose or ear
- A headache that keeps getting worse
- Neck or back pain after a fall or collision
Anyone taking a blood thinner should be assessed after a head injury even if they feel well.
What neurotrauma care covers
Assessment and management of traumatic injuries to the brain and nervous system, including acute bleeding, vascular injury, and trauma-related neurological complications. Care focuses on timely intervention, careful monitoring, reducing secondary injury, and supporting neurological recovery.
Traumatic brain injury
From concussion through to severe injury, including bleeding inside or around the brain and the pressure effects that can follow it.
Spinal injury
Traumatic injury to the spine and spinal cord, including fractures and instability, and the nerve problems that can result.
Trauma-related vascular injury
Injury to the blood vessels of the head and neck caused by trauma, assessed alongside the cerebrovascular and endovascular work of this practice.
Delayed and unresolved presentations
Symptoms that have persisted, changed or worsened in the weeks and months after an injury, including injuries first treated somewhere else.
If it has been weeks and you are still not right
A great many people are seen in an emergency department after a fall or a collision, told the scan was reassuring, and sent home. Most recover. Some do not, and are left with headaches, memory or concentration problems, dizziness, mood changes, or neck and back pain that nobody has revisited.
Persisting symptoms after a head or spine injury are worth a specialist opinion, particularly if they are getting worse rather than better, if they started some time after the injury, or if the original assessment was brief. You do not need a new emergency to justify asking.
You also do not need a referral to ask. Most patients can request an appointment directly, and if your insurer requires a referral in your case, we will tell you and guide you through it.
Neurotrauma training
Neurotrauma is one of Dr. Shah-Naz Khan's areas of subspecialty training. She completed a subspecialisation in neurotrauma at the University of Connecticut, alongside a cerebrovascular and endovascular fellowship at the Mayfield Clinic, University of Cincinnati, and a neurosurgery fellowship at New York University.
That combination matters in trauma, because injuries to the head and neck often involve the blood vessels as well as the brain, and the assessment benefits from a surgeon who works across both.
How assessment works
Review of what happened
How the injury occurred, what was found at the time, what was done, and how symptoms have behaved since.
Imaging reviewed properly
Scans taken at the time of the injury, and any since, looked at directly rather than read from a summary letter.
Focused neurological examination
Directed at the symptoms you actually have, to establish what is and is not explained by the injury.
A clear plan
Which may be further imaging, monitoring, referral for rehabilitation, or surgery when it is genuinely indicated. Many neurotrauma consultations do not end in an operation.
Further reading
Recognising emergency signs of brain trauma
Which symptoms after a head injury mean go to an emergency department now.
Brain trauma surgery terms explained
A plain-language glossary of the words used around head injury and its treatment.
Concussion and head injury
Symptoms, emergency warning signs, and what recovery usually looks like.
Common questions
What counts as neurotrauma?
Traumatic injury to the brain, the spinal cord or the nerves, and the complications that follow it. That includes bleeding inside or around the brain, injury to blood vessels, skull and spinal fractures, and the neurological problems that can develop afterwards.
I hit my head weeks ago and I am still not right. Is it too late to be seen?
No. Delayed presentations are a normal part of neurotrauma practice. Symptoms that persist or change after a head injury deserve assessment regardless of how much time has passed, particularly if they are getting worse rather than better.
Do I need a referral to be assessed after a head or spine injury?
Not usually. Most patients can request an appointment directly. Whether a referral is required depends on your insurance plan, and if one is required in your case we will let you know and guide you through what to do next.
Does every head injury need surgery?
No. Many do not. A great deal of neurotrauma care is careful assessment, imaging, monitoring and rehabilitation rather than an operation. Surgery is recommended only when it is genuinely the right step.
What should I bring to a neurotrauma consultation?
Any imaging on CD or USB with the radiology report, emergency department or hospital records from the injury, a note of when and how the injury happened, and a list of the symptoms you have had since.
Ask about an injury that has not settled
Tell us when the injury happened, what was found at the time, and what has not gone away. We will tell you whether a specialist assessment is worthwhile.