Woman Plays Violin During Brain Surgery
Doctors were operating on a woman’s brain and she was playing the violin at the same time. Watch our latest video to learn about this unique surgery!
Did you just see that video? Doctors were operating on the woman’s brain and she was playing the violin at the same time. Do you think she was bored and wanted to play the violin for time pass? Haha no. There is a very good reason for this. Let me tell you.The woman’s name is Dagmar Turner and she is 53 years old. She had a tumor in her right frontal lobe which is this portion of the brain. The tumor was dangerously close to areas of her brain that were responsible for coordinating delicate movements in her left hand. These regions are crucial for playing the violin, and in some spots, their distance from the tumor was as narrow as a credit card.
Turner said "The violin is my passion. I've been playing since I was 10 years old, the thought of losing my ability to play was heart-breaking." She was very afraid of getting the surgery to remove her tumour as she didn’t want to lose her ability to play the violin.Dr. Keyoumars Ashkan, a neurosurgeon, came up with this creative solution.
"We perform around 400 tumor removals each year, which often involves rousing (waking up) patients to carry out language tests, but this was the first time I've had a patient play an instrument,"Before the procedure, a team of medical experts spent two hours mapping Turner's brain to figure out which areas were active when she played the violin.Doctors managed to successfully remove over 90% of the tumor without damaging Turner's fine motor skills.She went home to her husband and son three days after the procedure.
"I'm hoping to be back with my orchestra very soon," Turner said after the surgery.
