Doctors have successfully operated on a 16-year-old epileptic patient while he was awake and humming songs.
Arvind Mohan Kumar, who has been suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy for 11 years, was instructed to remain alert through singing, listening and identifying melodies in the operation theatre at Nimhans in Bangalore, so that surgeons could remove a focal point of seizures in his brain without damaging the brain areas related to his musical abilities, Bangalore Mirror, reported.
“We decided to operate under local anaesthesia which would mean he would be awake during the operation. A question mark incision was made on his head close to the right ear and it penetrated four to five layers. He was made to listen to songs and identify the pitch, melodies and also sing while the surgical procedure was taking place. The parts that were active during musical activity were preserved and the focal point of the seizure was removed. The incision was then stitched back,” Dr Malla Bhaskhar Rao, professor and head of the department of neurosurgery at Nimhans, told the newspaper.
