Brain surgery
A surgical team prepares for brain surgery on a patient at the National Neurology Institute in Budapest December 15, 2012. The complex operation, called deep brain stimulation (DBS) and involves stimulation of certain areas of the human brain with high-frequency electricity, is carried out with the patient awake and communicating with the doctors during certain phases of the operation. Reuters/Bernadett Szabo

A 33-year old man from Brazil underwent brain surgery in a sensational way—by remaining conscious and playing the guitar, News Australia reports. Anthony Kulkamp Dias was kept awake by surgeons who operated on his brain tumour by letting him play and sing a Beatles’ song.

While the surgeons were operating on his brain and Dias was staying awake by serenading inside the operating room, one of members of the surgical team shot the video. The footage below shows Dias lying on the operating table and strumming the guitar singing Yesterday by the Beatles.

Sources say that Dias reported weakness on his right arm as it was the side where the doctors were operating. “So I stopped and rested. I was interspersing songs and talking with them,” he said.

A spokesperson for the hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição where Dias was operated said that his performance was a great surprise for everyone. The scene may be a bit odd but there is definitely a medical explanation behind it.

Doctors kept Dias awake to monitor his cerebral functions and according to the spokesman, doing so is critical in the prevention of injuries that may occur on the brain’s sensory, speech and motor areas during surgery. The hospital’s clinical director, Jean Abreu Machado adds that it is important to keep the patient awake to allow real-time monitoring of the brain.

According to The Independent, Dias, a bank worker, was a professional musician for two decades. He discovered that he had a tumour on his brain two weeks after the birth of his son a couple of months ago. According to him, his condition affected his speech as he would stammer and find it hard to utter some words. Sources report that the operation was a success and Dias was discharged on Wednesday.

Dias underwent “awake brain surgery” or “intraoperative brain mapping” as the John Hopkins Medicine calls it. This procedure allows brain surgeons to remove tumours that are difficult to operate on because either they are located close to brain areas responsible for language, vision and body movements or the procedure may result to loss of brain function.

Source: Youtube/News7 Tamil

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