A spotlight on our hepato-pancreato-biliary and orthopaedic teams in episode 3 of Surgeons: At the Edge of Life

Brace yourself for a tense evening if you are planning to sit down and watch the third instalment of Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life tonight, as two more patients go under the knife here at UHS, hoping for life-saving and life-changing results.

This week the spotlight moves to our hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) team, who deal with patients with serious and often life-threatening liver and pancreatic conditions.

Tonight, we meet 55-year-old patient Lisa, who has an egg sized tumour in her pancreas which has spread causing multiple tumours in her liver. These are a rare type of neuroendocrine tumour, diagnosed in just 4,000 people each year.

Consultant Arjun Takhar has a task on his hands – if he can’t remove Lisa’s tumours they will continue to grow and will eventually kill her.

To operate, Arjun is joined by fellow HPB consultant surgeon Tom Armstrong. Accessing and removing as many tumours as possible will be a challenge for the duo as the liver contains 13% of the body’s blood supply and when they cut into it there’s a high risk of bleeding.

The pair have a plan, but as they start to remove the tumours there’s more bleeding than they anticipated and so they need to come up with a new one.

Lisa’s anatomy also poses a problem further into the operation, which if the surgeons can’t solve will mean the surgery can’t continue.

Meanwhile, the cameras are also following the case of 42-year-old Bruno who is under the care of the orthopaedic department, where rare and ground-breaking operations are carried out.

Specialist knee consultant Amir Qureshi is preparing to operate on Bruno, who has bow legs that are now at such a severe angle he’s in constant pain and has difficulty walking.

The bones in Bruno’s legs, which curve outwards at the knee, are in danger of breaking because of the stress.

The procedure to correct them is so complex it’s been two years in the planning.

Precision is key in the operation, so Amir has planned it with medical engineer Sam Grasso, who has produced 3D models of all the bones, and then created cutting guides so Amir knows exactly where to cut.

But there’s a risk that Bruno’s bones could break all the way through – and to put that right brings further risks that could end up in heart failure.

You can watch on BBC2 at 9pm or alternatively catch up via BBC iPlayer.