Surgery can be a significant event for some people. Being cut open and worked on can be a terrifying thought, yet it has the potential to save lives or significantly enhance quality of life.
Knowing they’ll be sedated throughout surgery is one factor that helps some people cope with the experience. I’ve been general anesthesia a few times for different procedures throughout my youth and adulthood, and one thing that was consoling was knowing that I’d be asleep the entire time, unaware of what was happening.
Of course, some people are afraid of being put to sleep, and that is also understandable, but consider having surgery while still conscious.
A 35-year-old patient at the Paideia International Hospital in Rome, Italy recently underwent extensive brain surgery, and he did it while far away, according to a press release! He not only remained conscious throughout the procedure, but he also engaged in musical activity as the doctors worked on his brain.
Along with a group of surgeons and specialists, Dr. Christian Brogna performed surgery on the patient, who was only given the initials C.Z. The procedure took nine hours, and the patient was awake and conscious the entire time.
The patient was asked to play the saxophone for a reason, according to Dr. Brogna. The patient had stated his intention to carry on playing his instrument following the procedure prior to the operation.
Brogna declared:
“By playing music during the procedure, we can examine a wide range of brain processes and neural networks. According to Brogna, while playing, a person coordinates the movements of his hands, counts to keep time, engages in eye contact with the other members of the team, and has prosody since, as he recalls, music is a language. An intervention of this nature is comparable to a genuine orchestra, where the patient serves as the soloist and each member of the orchestra—the medical team—performs its specific function.
Throughout the procedure, the patient alternated between playing the Italian national anthem and the theme from the 1970 film “Love Story.”
According to Hopkins Medicine, brain surgery carried out on a patient who is awake can help the surgeon identify parts of the patient’s brain that should not be operated on because they are active. According to their explanation, “The neurosurgeon will ask the patient to do tasks such as talking, counting, and gazing at pictures in order to precisely determine the functional parts of the brain that must be avoided.” They may also occasionally be required to stage a musical performance, it seems!
Thankfully, the patient’s brain tumor was successfully removed during surgery.
Watch the video below:
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