
Man plays guitar as doctors operate on his brain - happy-go-lucky
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/bengaluru-man-plays-guitar-as-docs-operate-on-his-brain/articleshow/59674653.cms?
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dtien
There was actually a story on NPR recently that mentioned such a brain
operation where the patient needed brain surgery to alleviate some type of
recurring seizure. And he was also a music lover, and so there was an inherent
risk the surgeons said that he might lose those abilities.

So rather than take that risk blindly, they had him play a guitar while they
were doing surgery on his brain! And if at any point, while they were
operating, if his playing ability was affected they would stop operating in
that region of the brain.

The kicker was that the side effect of the surgery ( his second ), was that
they inadvertently affected a part of the brain that is responsible for 'self-
control, judgement' and he ended up becoming a child porn addict, which got
him arrested and convicted.

There's about 5 different unbelievable parts to this story, worth a listen if
you can find it.

The Human Brain.. continually amazed at how much we still don't know about
this part of our anatomy.

~~~
thepaulstella
[http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/)

~~~
jjw1414
That's right - it was on the RadioLab podcast. I thought he was "listening" to
music during the operation, and told the doctors to stop if his interpretation
of the melody turned to white noise. The unsettling gist of the main story was
the relationship between culpability and brain function. Worth a listen.

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mrkgnao
Related: Christian Muenzner is an extreme metal guitarist who was diagnosed
with focal dystonia in his left hand. He was part of Obscura, one of my
favorite metal bands ever.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Munzner#Focal_Dyston...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Munzner#Focal_Dystonia)

\--

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPpXcvGpps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPpXcvGpps)

Listen to this from about 4:00 onwards, and tell me if you'd ordinarily be
able to guess that the sounds you hear at 4:20 or so came out of a guitar. I
wouldn't, at least not at once.

After the diagnosis, he was faced with a, uh, unreliable left hand. There was
nothing to do but take his right-hand "tapping" abilities to insane levels. :)

~~~
mabramo
Great to see a fellow tech death/extreme metal lover here. Obscura,
Necrophagist, and played with Ron Jarzombek. That's some history right there.

Tom Fountainhead (ex-Obscura) recently published a cover of a track off
Akroasis. Fretless guitar tapping everywhere

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AXZRGVrWk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AXZRGVrWk)

~~~
mrkgnao
Hey! Tech-death isn't what I listen to nowadays, mostly, but it's where I
started from. I learned to appreciate complexity in music from there, and
branched out to other things. Still do enjoy the occasional Gorguts listen,
though.

(Your link is excellent.)

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rsiqueira
See Rosemary Kennedy's brain lobotomy (she was the sister of President John F.
Kennedy). She was awake and speaking during her brain operation, so doctor
could know if he was messing with any important area. "When she began to
become incoherent, they stopped." But of course it was too late. She became
mentally impaired for the rest of her life. She was lobotomized because her
father though it would improve her teenager behavior problems. The brain
itself doesn't have Nociceptors (pain sensory neurons), so there is no pain
below the skin and meninges area.

~~~
amelius
> The brain itself doesn't have Nociceptors (pain sensory neurons), so there
> is no pain below the skin and meninges area.

Isn't there even pain (during an operation) in the part of the brain that
processes pain?

And how about emotions?

~~~
AstralStorm
If you go that deep, you will hit other parts first. Damage to amygdala cam go
either way.

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Tharkun
Focal dystonia is pretty weird. Different body parts are mapped to different
areas of the brain, but "overtraining" certain movements (like this guitarist)
can cause that area to spill over into adjacent areas. Resulting in
involuntary, task-specific, movements.

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valbaca
Pulled right out of a Grey's Anatomy episode (or vice versa is more likely):

[http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wilmer-valderrama-says-good-
day...](http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wilmer-valderrama-says-good-day-greys-
anatomy-234986)

------
exabrial
I'm not sure whether or not I believe this actually happened...

~~~
transcranial
This is not at all uncommon:

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2015/12/21/live-from-the-or-patient-plays-saxophone-during-brain-
surgery/)

[https://www.bustle.com/articles/35791-watch-inspiring-
violin...](https://www.bustle.com/articles/35791-watch-inspiring-violinist-
roger-frisch-play-during-brain-surgery-with-amazing-results-video)

I've watched a few myself in person. Sometimes it's crucial to monitor
preservation of function -- this is how it's done. Awake brain surgery isn't
as crazy as it may seem.

~~~
tobz
Nice username... :)

It's totally logical, but wildly scary sounding. Is there any sort of
anesthesia that is delivered which... I don't know... changes your perception
as the patient to not think about the fact someone is poking your brain?

Clearly they can eliminate the local feeling of the surgery, but how do you
stop people from freakinggggggg out that it's happening? :P

~~~
lightbyte
>Clearly they can eliminate the local feeling of the surgery

They don't really do this, your brain has no pain receptors so you can't feel
what they are doing by default. I do not think they would use any sort of drug
to stop people from freaking out as well, because they would imply that the
drug is messing with your brain chemistry in some way which can cloud any
problems they are trying to notice.

The whole idea behind the awake brain surgery is to quickly notice any changes
in cognitive function from the person being operated on.

~~~
yorwba
I sure hope they apply some local anesthesia so you don't have to feel them
saw open your skull. Of course the brain itself doesn't have pain receptors,
but the surrounding skin does.

