London, Oct 23 : Dame Julie Andrews, who is said to have lost her voice after a surgery, could be back on stage within a year or two, all thanks to a revolutionary new treatment to repair her shattered vocal cords.

Andrews, 74, is expected to be one of the first patients in the world to have man-made tissue injected into her voice box, which had been damaged following surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules on her vocal cords.

The 1997 operation is said to have ruined her soprano voice and she sued the New York surgeons, winning 600,000 pounds in an out-of-court settlement.

But now Professor Robert Langer, a tissue engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with voice specialist Dr Steven Zeitels believe they can give the star back her youthful voice.

They have developed a technique that involves removing scar tissue from the vocal cords and then injecting a gel called polyethylene glycol to replace it.

The man-made substance is specially designed to mimic the elasticity of the natural vocal cord without being rejected by the body.

The substance has already proved successful and safe in animals and is expected to be in the clinic within a year.

Andrews has already expressed her desire to be a guinea pig for the new treatment.

“The substance is designed to vibrate and behave just like a vocal cord,” the Telegraph quoted Professor Langer as saying.

“The animal trials have been very promising.

“Julie Andrews has been a great supporter. She came into our office and explained that she cannot hold a note because of scarring,” he said.

Professor Langer and Dr Zeitels have already made a ‘map’ of her throat while she was under anaesthetic.

The biggest challenge has been to find a suitable bio-material for the implants one pliable enough to oscillate and vibrate up to 200 times a second. (ANI)