Patient remains conscious during brain surgery, plays instruments

A man played musical instruments, prayed and read the newspaper while getting a tumour removed from his brain. Doctors at AIIMS Bhopal performed the delicate surgery in which the patient was not fully sedated.

Reports said the man played cymbals and piano and recited the Hanuman Chalisa while the procedure was underway. A patient is kept conscious during certain brain surgeries to track how they are responding to the stimulus.

Doctors said that the surgery was completed successfully and the 28-year-old man had “full control of his motor functions,” as per NDTV. Such surgeries, called awake craniotomies, have become increasingly popular.

Such surgeries are preferred when the tumour is “close to regions of the brain that control language, cognition, sensation, and body movement,” as per the University of California. Brain mapping helps “protect the patient’s language, sensory, and motor abilities.”

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While local anaesthesia is usually given on the scalp, the brain does not require any sedatives. There are no pain receptors present in the pain.