A 53-year-old woman recently made waves on social media as a video of her undergoing brain surgery while she was awake went viral as she played the violin during her own operation.
Neurosurgeons from the King’s College Hospital in London performed a delicate craniotomy on Dagmar Turner, a former management consultant and violinist who plays in a local orchestra in the Isle of Wight in UK.
Turner suffered seizure during a symphony in 2013 and was diagnosed with slow growing glioma. But the tumor grew and became more aggressive in 2019. With a 13-year-old son depending on her, Turner underwent surgery to remove it.
It turns out her neurosurgeon, Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, is also passionate about music. He is also a music degree holder and an accomplished pianist.
Upon learning that the tumor’s location at the right frontal lobe of the brain, Prof. Ashkan realized that the surgery could damage the area in the brain that controls her left hand’s fine movement, essential in the patient’s playing of violin.
For two hours, the team mapped her brain to identify which specific areas in her brain is used while playing the violin. After this, the anesthesiologists brought her to sleep. In the mid-operation, Turner was woken up and was asked to play the violin so the doctors would know if they are damaging crucial part of her brain that controls her delicate hands.
Three days after the procedure, Turner was discharged from the hospital and brought back to her husband and son.
“We managed to remove 90 percent of the tumor, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity, while retaining full function in her left hand,” Ashkhan said.
