In a bizarre incident, a 32-year-old techie-turned-musician in Bengaluru played the guitar on the operation table as neurosurgeons operated on his brain to cure a neurological disorder.
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The man suffering from musician's dystonia had been experiencing from cramps in three of his fingers of his left hand. He strummed the guitar while being operated in a city hospital last week.
What is musician's dystonia?
Musician's dystonia is characterised by involuntary, prolonged muscle contractions, which cause affected parts of the body to be twisted into abnormal postures. It is common among musicians as they engage in rigorous and continuous movement of their hands.
Why did he play on the operation table?
The man played the guitar to help the doctors locate the troublesome areas in his brain which they "burned" out to correct the movement disorder.
The man, whose name has not been revealed, said that he started suffering pain in his fingers about one and a half years ago while he was playing the guitar.
"This problem occurred when he tried to play the instrument and real-time feedback was important for us to ascertain the exact location of the target to be repaired," said Sanjiv C C, a senior neurologist from the University of British Columbia as per a report in Times of India.
Dr Sharan Srinivasan, a stereotactic and functional neurosurgeon at Jain Institute of Movement Disorders and Stereotactic Neurosurgery, said, "This is a surgery where the part of the brain triggering abnormal tremors is destroyed by burning. Before the surgery, a special frame was fixed to his head with four screws going deep into the skull following which an MRI was conducted." These MRI images helped the doctors create three coordinates of the target area in the brain (8-9cm deep, in this case) along with the entry point to the skull. These coordinates were essential to determine the path to be followed during the surgery.
"Based on these coordinates, a 14mm hole was drilled into the skull under local anaesthesia and a specialized electrode was passed into the brain following which it was stimulated to confirm the right location and prevent complications," Srinivasan added.
Operation successful
The man who is completely cured now has said that he is able to play his guitar now without any pain.
"I was amazed to see my fingers improve magically on the operation table itself. By the end of the surgery, my fingers were 100% cured and I could move them like before. Within three days of surgery, I walked out of the hospital all set to play guitar again," he said.
