Andrews Pins Hopes on New Voice Surgery

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.