Surgeons at the Coventry University Hospital have successfully removed a 2 centimetre tumour from a man's head by extracting it through his nose. The tumour, about the size of a 10 cent piece, was cut away before being pulled out with a small hook.

The procedure is usually done by cracking open the skull and moving the nose in order to reach the tumour. Doctors decided to try the ground-breaking nostril surgery instead. Ian Bradley, a 60-year old man from Wellesbourne, Warks, said that he "didn't take much convincing".

"I didn't much fancy having my head cut open, so I was very grateful."

Mr. Bradley's tumour was first discovered after a visit to the doctor for a constantly runny nose. A brain scan revealed that a honeycomb-like, cancerous bone was growing close to the smell receptors in Mr. Bradley's brain.

Though it left him without a sense of smell, the operation has freed his nostrils, allowing Mr. Bradley to breathe through his nose again.