Your Life in Their Hands Episode Guide

Episode Guide

Your Life in Their Hands: Season 2

• Season 2 Episode 2: John Hutchinson

  Leading consultant surgeon John Hutchinson carries out a complex operation on a 48-year-old man living with severe ankylosing spondylitis, a rare degenerative, arthritic condition which affects the major joints of the body. A year ago, the patient's spine snapped in the middle and John's treatment at Bristol's Fenchay Hospital involves breaking his patient's back and resetting it, but there is a real risk that surgery will paralyse him

• Season 2 Episode 1: Chris Chandler: Epilepsy

  Examining the work of some of Britain's leading surgeons, beginning with neurosurgeon Chris Chandler, who performs complex operations at King's College Hospital to help epilepsy sufferers. His patients include a 19-year-old who experiences more than 20 fits a day, and a youngster whose condition is so severe it can stop him breathing

Your Life in Their Hands:

• Chris Chandler: Neurosurgeon

  Profile of Chris Chandler, a neurosurgeon specialising in epilepsy at London's King's College, and whose patients include a 19-year-old who suffers more than 20 seizures a day

• Henry Marsh : Brain Surgeon

  Documentary series examining the work of some of Britain's leading surgeons and meeting the patients whose life-threatening conditions they have to treat. The first episode focuses on pioneering neurosurgeon Henry Marsh as he treats Adrian Theobald, a 30-year-old with a tumour near the speech area of his brain which, if untreated, will eventually kill him. Dr Marsh decides on a radical approach - he will operate on Adrian's brain while he's awake, so he can be sure no permanent damage is done. But, if the procedure goes wrong, his patient could lose the power of speech for ever

• Stephen Westaby - Heart Surgeon

  An insight into the work of Stephen Westaby regarded as one of the world's leading cardiac surgeons, with more than 10,000 operations to his name. Cameras follow him at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital as he treats Jim Braid, who is suffering from severe heart disease. Too sick to withstand a transplant, his last chance of survival is to have a mechanical heart fitted, a procedure that is both complex and risky