Doctors at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have successfully removed a brain tumour from a patient, Christian Nolen, whilst he played the guitar. The neurosurgical team praised Nolen, who played Metallica and System of a Down tracks, saying that his music allowed them to monitor his brain activity and ensure his speech and comprehension weren’t affected by the operation. According to the director of the brain tumour program at Sylvester, Ricardo Komotar, playing music during brain surgery is not limited to guitars. There are reports that singing can help surgeons monitor patients’ abilities to form and understand words while removing tumours from areas involving language.
Doctors chose to perform an awake craniotomy surgery on Nolen to avoid causing damage to his brain. “When a tumour is involving or near a critical part of the brain — something that controls the ability to speak or understand language or move — we want to do the surgery awake to continually monitor the patient, so you know if you start to violate normal brain functions,” explained Ricardo Komotar. “The surgeries actually become much more dangerous because you can take out a tumour that involves normal brain function and cause real harm without knowing it.”
Nolen found the experience “overwhelming” and confessed that he had to fight the natural urge to sit up during the procedure: “I just had to breathe and stay calm,” he said. Meanwhile, his exceptional musical ability saved his speech and comprehension, and he will not require additional therapy.
Patients shouldn’t worry about a guitar being the only option during brain surgery. So long as the activity doesn’t increase pressure in the head, patients can play music during the operation, according to Komotar
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