More tense operations are coming in the fourth episode of the BBC's Saving Lives in Leeds as surgeons tackle a rare tumour and a deep sarcoma.
One surgery is so complex only one surgeon in Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust can perform it. Consultant Kenan Deniz will be operating on a rare tumour growing deep behind the ear of Maureen, 63.
Working alongside ENT surgeon, Sanjay Verma, Kenan will have to access the brain through the delicate structures behind Maureen's ear - and discovers it's stuck fast onto the delicate facial nerve. If he damages it during the surgery, Maureen's face will be left permanently paralysed.
Read more: Emmerdale's Carl King actor Tom Lister unrecognisable after huge transformation
Meanwhile, Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) plastic and reconstructive surgeon Chris West and senior fellow Jill Baker are dealing with sarcomas. These include Leslie, 76, who has a sarcoma that has grown back five centimetres deep in his thigh after having surgery 10 years before.
Chris is part of a specialist unit dealing with sarcomas, a rare type of soft tissue cancer. Trevor, 67, also has a sarcoma on his lower leg.
It needs to be removed as it has been found to be a high grade cancer. But Trevor suffers from anxiety and had previously discharged himself.
Brought in on the day of filming by son Sam, Trevor's operation gets pushed down the list when Chris is called out to operate on an emergency patient. The episode will see Chris and Jill try to persuade Trevor to stay as he struggles with the stress of waiting.
Elsewhere in Leeds Children's Hospital orthopaedic consultant John Davies is preparing for surgery on Ethan, 13. Ethan has been struggling walking for over a year because his Achilles tendons are so tight his heels can't touch the ground when he walks - John needs to elongate his tendons so his feet can hit the ground flat.
Saving Lives in Leeds episode four airs on March 22 on BBC1.
Read next:
