In an unusual incident, surgeons at King’s College Hospital in London removed a brain tumor from a UK-based musician, who played the violin during her surgery.
The woman has been identified as Dagmar Turner, 53, who performed complex scales on her instrument while doctors monitored her exposed brain.
According to The Time report, doctors observed and supervised her brain before the surgery to identify areas that were active when she played the instrument.
In the middle of the surgery, doctors woke her up so that she could play to “ensure the surgeons did not damage any crucial areas of the brain that controlled Dagmar’s delicate hand movements,” the hospital in a statement said.
“We knew how important the violin is to Dagmar, so it was vital that we preserved function in the delicate areas of her brain that allowed her to play,” said professor Keyoumars Ashkan, her neurosurgeon said.
“We managed to remove over 90% of the tumor, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity, while retaining full function in her left hand," the statement further added.
Three days after the surgery, Turner, left the hospital and hopes to return to her orchestra soon. Watch the video below:
