The Brain Injury Unit is based at the Leicester General Hospital. The unit means patients with similar needs can be looked after in one place by nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language specialists, all of whom have special expertise in this area.
This seven-bed unit is based close to the core brain injury team, which cares for people aged 16 to 65 who have suffered a brain injury.
The Brain Injury Unit and core brain injury team are part of our neurology department which sees more than 9,000 patients a year.
You can find accessibility information for Brain Injury Unit on the AccessAble website.
Conditions we treat
Common conditions include:
- Altered mental status, such as encephalopathy, stupor and coma
- Bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic infections of the central nervous system (encephalitis), brain envelopes (meningitis) and peripheral nerves (neuritis), such as brain abscess, herpetic meningoencephalitis, aspergilloma, cerebral hydatic cyst, tetanus, botulism
- Cerebral palsy
- Cerebrovascular disease, such as transient ischemic attacks, and strokes (ischemic or hemorrhagic)
- Demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis, and of the peripheral nervous system, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)
- Epilepsy and seizure disorders
- Headache disorders such as migraine and tension headache (cluster headache)
- Movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, chorea, hemiballismus, tic disorder, and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
- Neoplasms, such as tumors of the brain and its envelopes (brain tumors), spinal cord tumors, tumors of the peripheral nerves (neuroma)
- Neurodegenerative disorders, the most common class being dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease
- Peripheral nerves, muscle (myopathy) and neuromuscular junctions disorders
- Sleep disorders
- Spinal cord disorders, for example tumors, infections, trauma, malformations such as myelocele, meningomyelocele, tethered cord
- Traumatic injuries to the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves
Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)
Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a rare but serious neurological disease which affects about 1,500 people in the UK every year. Yet not many people know very much about the condition.
It is a disease that affect the nervous system in which the nerves in the arms and legs become inflamed and stop working. This causes sudden weakness leading to limb paralysis, and a loss of sensation, sometimes with pain.
For more information about GBS call 01529 304615 or email the GBS support group.
Motor Neurone Disease
The term Motor Neurone Disease, describes a group of related diseases, affecting the motor nerves or neurones (also known as neurons) in the brain and spinal cord, which pass messages to the muscles telling them what to do.
Degeneration of the motor neurones leads to weakness and wasting of muscles, causing loss of mobility in the limbs, and difficulties with speech, swallowing and breathing.
The effects of MND can vary enormously from person to person, from the presenting symptoms, the rate and pattern of the disease progression to the length of survival time after diagnosis.