Let's Talk Surgery: The RCSEd Podcast
Sep 14, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min · 10 segments
In this episode, host Sesi Hotonu talks to consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Mr Michael Canty on the management of spinabifida and hydrocephalus in children. **Enjoyed this episode of *Let’s Talk…
Michael CantyGuest
Sesi HotonuHost
[on-hold music] Hello, and welcome everyone to another episode of the Let's Talk Surgery podcast for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
We've got another continuation of the FRCS Paeds series, and today I'm joined by Mr. Michael Canty.
Now, Michael is an incredible neurosurgeon working in Glasgow with a subspecialty interest in pediatrics.
And he treats a whole manner of things from trauma to acquired conditions in neurosurgery.
And he's here to demystify one of our shared conditions, spina bifida, and also talk a little bit about hydrocephalus because as many of you, myself included, who have just taken the FRCS Paeds know that every once in a while there's a question about a shunt that we don't know anything about.
I think probably the best thing to do is to jump right in and talk about our shared patient.
I'm sure many of you have been to spina bifida clinic, where we have our neurosurgery colleagues, ourselves as pediatric surgeons dealing with the bladder and the bowel, and our orthopedic colleagues to name a few.
But I think from a neurosurgery perspective, it'll be interesting to have a bit of background about the condition.
So Michael, the first question I'm gonna ask you is, what is spina bifida, and how common is it?
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[on-hold music] Hello, and welcome everyone to another episode of the Let's Talk Surgery podcast for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
We've got another continuation of the FRCS Paeds series, and today I'm joined by Mr. Michael Canty.
Now, Michael is an incredible neurosurgeon working in Glasgow with a subspecialty interest in pediatrics.
And he treats a whole manner of things from trauma to acquired conditions in neurosurgery.
And he's here to demystify one of our shared conditions, spina bifida, and also talk a little bit about hydrocephalus because as many of you, myself included, who have just taken the FRCS Paeds know that every once in a while there's a question about a shunt that we don't know anything about.
I think probably the best thing to do is to jump right in and talk about our shared patient.
I'm sure many of you have been to spina bifida clinic, where we have our neurosurgery colleagues, ourselves as pediatric surgeons dealing with the bladder and the bowel, and our orthopedic colleagues to name a few.
But I think from a neurosurgery perspective, it'll be interesting to have a bit of background about the condition.
So Michael, the first question I'm gonna ask you is, what is spina bifida, and how common is it?
