Andrews Pins Hopes on New Voice Surgery

Mary Poppins may sing again with pioneering technique
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 23, 2009 5:38 AM CDT
Andrews Pins Hopes on New Voice Surgery
Actress Julie Andrews' famous singing voice was ruined in a botched operation to remove nodules in 1997.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)

Julie Andrews hopes to be one of the first to undergo cutting edge surgery in a bid to resurrect vocal chords savaged in a botched operation. The actress hasn't been able to sing since her 1997 surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules on her larynx. She won nearly a million dollars in damages for the operation. Doctors have devised a new technique to remove scar tissue from vocal chords and replace it with a man-made gel called polyethylene glycol, reports the Telegraph.

"The substance is designed to vibrate and behave just like a vocal chord. Animal trials have been very promising," said one of the researchers. "Julie Andrews has been a great supporter. She came into our office and explained that she cannot hold a note because of scarring." Doctors have already made a "map" of the singer's vocal chords.
(More women's issues stories.)

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