Musician's dystonia is a neurological disorder, caused by the brain sending false information to muscles causing the affected parts of the body to twist into abnormal postures.
The patient played his guitar as the surgeons worked on his brain
HIGHLIGHTS
- Patient played a guitar while neurosurgeons operated on his brain
- Musician's dystonia is a neurological disorder
- The doctors had to 'burn' off the affected part of his brain
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."
The doctors had to 'burn' off the affected part of his brain, the patient strummed guitar to help the doctors in locating the specific area. "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 Dr Sanjiv C C, a senior neurologist from the University of British Columbia.
The resulting MRI, showed the specified areas and also offered up a path which had to be taken to fix the entry point of the skull. "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," said a doctor.
The patient was also ecstatic after a successful surgery. "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.
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