3D printing helps save woman's life

Alison Hough is now cancer-free and is awaiting a minor operation on her lip

Surgeons have used 3D printing to help save the life of a woman with a cancerous tumour in her nose.

Alison Hough, from Staffordshire, was given only two weeks to live when she was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease.

Specialists at Royal Stoke University Hospital used a print of her face to plan the removal of the tumour and the reconstruction of some of her features following the operation.

"There is no gift I could ever give that would be enough to say thank you to them," she said.

The team were able to carefully plan the complex treatment, said surgeon Daya Gahir

Ms Hough originally thought she had a cold after returning from holiday in Tenerife in 2016.

When the nasal congestion did not clear, she went to the doctors and was initially diagnosed with a sinus infection, but the medication did not help, and she became more unwell.

She was eventually confirmed to have adenocarcinoma of the nose, which meant a rapid move to treatment.

The surgery was made more difficult as the tumour had spread into the brain cavity

A 3D model was printed of her face to better understand the extent of the tumour, and to help with reconstructing her features after surgery.

Access to this latest printing technology at the time made all the difference to treatment, as the tumour had spread into the brain cavity, said surgeon Daya Gahir.

"In a lot of [hospital] units, this would have definitely have been deemed inoperable, and she would probably have been having palliative treatment."

The surgery was really challenging, but very successful, because of the level of planning the printing allowed them to do, he added.

A short film was produced to highlight the life-saving surgery Ms Hough underwent

The facial reconstruction surgery initially took away some of her confidence, Ms Hough said.

But she had a lot of support, including from her surgeon.

He asked her if while she had been in the waiting room she had seen anyone with a prosthetic.

"I said no, and he said there were three people in there with prosthetics. 'What I am trying to say,' he said, 'is people don't stare at people, they don't look at people.'"

She is now cancer-free, and a minor operation on her lip is all she needs to complete her treatment.

"I am feeling 100% well," added Ms Hough, who wanted to share her story to raise money for the UHNM charity, which helps fund equipment for the hospital.