Catch up TV

This episode is currently not available.

Series 4: Episode 5



Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge is an internationally renowned university teaching hospital and a centre of excellence for a number of specialities. The surgeons here take on complex cases from across the UK where a successful operation can save and transform the patient's quality of life.\n\nEkpemi Irune is one of the hospital’s leading head and neck surgeons, and treats over 500 patients each year. Today her patient is a woman who has been successfully treated for cancer, but it has left her unable to swallow or speak. \n\nSeventy-five-year-old Nancie is a farmer’s wife who was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer two years ago and received radiotherapy which cured her. But the radiotherapy left her larynx damaged and severely narrowed her oesophagus, so she is unable to swallow or speak properly. This has been life-changing for Nancie, a lover of food and especially puddings, who now can’t join her husband for meals and must connect herself to a feeding pump each night to get the nutrition she needs.\n\nTo enable Nancie to eat and speak normally again, Ekpemi must perform a complex operation to remove her larynx and rebuild her oesophagus. She will need to carefully navigate around important blood vessels and nerves in Nancie’s neck to remove the larynx, which will leave a hole in her oesophagus. To repair the hole and to widen Nancie’s narrowed swallowing tube, plastics consultant Nic Segaren must take a flap of skin and tissue from Nancie’s arm, with a vein and artery attached, to use to reconstruct the oesophagus. This flap will be connected to vessels in Nancie’s neck for it to have a blood supply and keep it alive. \n\nThe challenge for Nic is making that connection between the vessels, especially when he discovers the main vein for the flap is not working. Instead, he must use much smaller vessels to make the connection. But if these vessels are not big enough to keep the blood flowing out of the flap, the reconstruction could be at risk.\n\nAddenbrooke’s is also a centre for complex neurosurgery, and today consultant Tom Santarius has a challenging case where a young mother has a tumour growing between her brain and eye socket that needs to be removed, as it is threatening her sight.\n\nThirty-six-year-old mother of three, Gemma, has always had headaches, but earlier this year they became worse. Eventually an MRI scan revealed she had a meningioma, a type of tumour that grows from the membrane around the brain. In her case, it was growing towards the eye socket, infecting bone and causing swelling behind her right eye. If left untreated, it would eventually threaten her sight, and even her life.\n\nThe operation to remove the tumour and infected bone is a demanding and long procedure, as Tom must operate in a very small space in the skull, using drills to remove the tumour and bone while avoiding important nerves and blood vessels behind the eye. Here, the margins for error are miniscule; a tiny slip could cause blindness or a torrential bleed if the carotid artery is damaged.\n\nTo make the operation even more difficult, the tumour needs to be carefully taken off the membrane around the eye socket and the dura, the membrane around the brain. As a substantial amount of the dura has to be cut out, Tom will need to carefully repair this with a patch of manufactured collagen so that the brain is protected. And the repairs don’t stop there. Because a substantial amount of bone is removed, Tom must use titanium mesh to support the eye socket, so that Gemma’s eye sits well within her skull.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Surgeons: At the Edge of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 5. The Finest Margins

Series 7: 5. The Finest Margins

In the department of clinical neurosciences at NHS Lothian's Royal Infirmary, surgeons take on complex brain surgery, where millimetres can be the difference between success and ...

26-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 4. Rebuild And Renew

Series 7: 4. Rebuild And Renew

At St John’s Hospital in Livingston, consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon Ashley Hay specialises in some of the most challenging cancer cases: removing tumours from the ...

24-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 3. All Or Nothing

Series 7: 3. All Or Nothing

At NHS Lothian's Royal Infirmary, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Renzo Pessotto takes on some of the most challenging cases in his field, and his next patient is no exception ...

17-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 2. In The Balance

Series 7: 2. In The Balance

Consultant colorectal surgeon Danielle Collins faces a challenging case at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital. Her patient has an aggressive tumour that has doubled in s ...

10-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 1. A Lot To Lose

Series 7: 1. A Lot To Lose

The hospitals of NHS Lothian serve a population of almost a million in Edinburgh and the surrounding area. Surgeons face life-changing and life-enhancing operations that involve ...

03-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 6: 6. Make Or Break

Series 6: 6. Make Or Break

The specialists at Southampton work together to treat three patients who are suffering from life- and limb-threatening injuries. \n\nFifty-five-year-old Chris is airlifted to h ...

02-05-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 6: 5. We Can Rebuild You

Series 6: 5. We Can Rebuild You

Consultant cardiac surgeon Amit Modi is faced with the case of 70-year-old grandmother Jeanette, who is in desperate need of surgery, as her aorta - the body’s biggest art ...

24-04-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 6: 4. Hope

Series 6: 4. Hope

As one of the country’s largest hospitals, surgeons at University Hospital Southampton carry out over 34,000 operations every year, many of which are the last hope for the ...

18-04-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 6: 3. The Best Laid Plans

Series 6: 3. The Best Laid Plans

University Hospital Southampton provides care for close to three million people across the south of England every year, treating patients with the most complex surgical needs. \ ...

11-04-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 6: 2. All For One

Series 6: 2. All For One

At University Hospital Southampton, surgeons perform life-saving surgery. Maxillofacial consultant Sanjay Sharma and his colleague Madan 'Ethu' Ethunandan's next case is particu ...

04-04-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Most popular episodes of Surgeons: At the Edge of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 5. The Finest Margins

Series 7: 5. The Finest Margins

In the department of clinical neurosciences at NHS Lothian's Royal Infirmary, surgeons take on complex brain surgery, where millimetres can be the difference between success and ...

26-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 4. Rebuild And Renew

Series 7: 4. Rebuild And Renew

At St John’s Hospital in Livingston, consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon Ashley Hay specialises in some of the most challenging cancer cases: removing tumours from the ...

24-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 3. All Or Nothing

Series 7: 3. All Or Nothing

At NHS Lothian's Royal Infirmary, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Renzo Pessotto takes on some of the most challenging cases in his field, and his next patient is no exception ...

17-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 4: Episode 2

Series 4: Episode 2

Cambridge is home to two of the country’s most groundbreaking hospitals - Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth, where surgeons take on some of the most challenging medic ...

01-12-2021

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 6: 6. Make Or Break

Series 6: 6. Make Or Break

The specialists at Southampton work together to treat three patients who are suffering from life- and limb-threatening injuries. \n\nFifty-five-year-old Chris is airlifted to h ...

02-05-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 4: Episode 3

Series 4: Episode 3

Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth hospitals in Cambridge are renowned for the expertise of their surgical staff. At both centres, surgeons undertake some of the most comple ...

08-12-2021

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 5: 6. One Step At A Time

Series 5: 6. One Step At A Time

Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Major Trauma Centre must operate on two road accident victims who have suffered life-changing injuries so serious they could lead to an amputation.

02-03-2023

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 7: 2. In The Balance

Series 7: 2. In The Balance

Consultant colorectal surgeon Danielle Collins faces a challenging case at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital. Her patient has an aggressive tumour that has doubled in s ...

10-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 1: 3. The Pioneers

Series 1: 3. The Pioneers

The groundbreaking three-part series concludes with the extraordinary stories of clinical trials being carried out at the surgical unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingha ...

22-11-2018

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life - Series 5: 1. Major Trauma - Back From The Brink

Series 5: 1. Major Trauma - Back From The Brink

The specialists at Addenbrooke’s work against the clock to treat three patients who are suffering from life and limb-threatening injuries. \n\nA critically injured motorcy ...

24-01-2023

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

© 2025 - Catchupplayer.co.uk