Surgeons: At the Edge of Life

Maxillofacial surgeons prepare to operate on Teresa, 53, who has a cancerous tumor on her face and could die within weeks if it is not removed.

Jasmine, 74, has a 20 kg tumor in her abdomen, and unless it is removed, she only has four weeks to live.

At Royal Papworth, Shelley, 54, undergoes a complex and extraordinary surgery: a pulmonary endarterectomy.

At the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, England, around 700 operations are carried out every week, across 42 specialist theatres. Most patients have conditions that are familiar to experienced surgeons, but occasionally the teams must tackle much rarer and more challenging cases.

This episode explores how surgeons within England's National Health Service endeavour to meet the needs of patients who require surgery to improve their very poor quality of life. The challenge is balancing the risk posed by highly invasive procedures, against the potential long-term benefit of treating incapacitating conditions which have left their patients housebound and in need of care.