The Operation: Surgery Live

David Payne: The patient Our patient had a leaky mitral valve in his heart, which was causing him to feel extremely tired and short of breath. A functioning mitral valve only lets blood flow in one direction through the left side of the heart. However, when the valve is damaged, blood can flow the wrong way, resulting in increased pressure on the heart. If David's condition had been left untreated his heart would have eventually failed.

Peter Chaisit-Charles: The patient Peter Chaisit-Charles had a suspected tumour in his brain. For the last four years he has suffered from epilepsy, with his lesion causing abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Recently it started to affect his short term memory too. The tumour was growing in the left temporal lobe – the area of the brain that controls our speech and language functions. If the tumour had continued to grow, Peter could have lost part of his ability to talk.

Our patient has a hiatus hernia where the stomach has protruded through a hole in her diaphragm up into the bottom of her oesophagus. This causes acid reflux, where digestive juices and food from the stomach travel back up the oesophagus. As a result our patient is suffering from chronic heartburn, chest pains and severe discomfort when she eats. She has had mild symptoms for 15 years but in the past ten months they have become unbearable. If the condition is left untreated it will continue to get worse.

Our patient has a tumour at the base of her brain in her pituitary gland. This is the body's hormone control centre and the tumour has affected it causing the body to secrete an excess of growth hormones. Our patient's lips have swollen and her shoe size has increased from a size six to a size eight. At the same time, the tumour itself has started pushing against her optic nerve causing double vision and headaches. If the tumour isn't removed, the muscles in her heart could start to grow, restricting blood flow and increasing the risk of a stroke.