While on the operating table, his brain open, a man hospitalized at the Caen CHU had to play a violin piece, tells Le Parisien in an article from September 29, 2021.
The patient, who had a brain tumor, received a innovative operating technique, awake surgery. It consists of putting the patient to sleep locally only, opening the skullcap and asking the patient to interact while he is being operated on. The goal? Do not reach an area of the brain that would deprive it of a capacity. The neurosurgeon who practices it is called David Berro. It has been developed to preserve the patient’s motor skills, sight or even language, and has the particularity of being very precise.
The surgeon operates according to the patient’s actions
The collaboration between the patient and the doctor began with upward movements with his arm, so that the surgeon could observe the impact of his work live. The patient says that it happened that his movement is completely blocked, so that he can no longer move because a large area was stressed. This observation then makes it possible to see that there is a danger and that it is necessary to move.
In this specific case, the patient is a violinist and must be able to retain his ability to play. It is for this reason that the musical instrument was brought into the operating theater. Especially since as explained by Le Parisien, who filmed the scene, the operated area was directly linked to the motor skills of the right hand, essential for the patient’s practice. Over 4 hours of operation, the patient only had to play 5 to 10 minutes. And a priori, everything went well.
Source: Le Parisien
Also read:
- What if the placement of an implant could measure the effectiveness of a graft in real time?
- What will the human-ape chimeras created for the first time be used for?
