Man plays guitar while undergoing brain tumour surgery

onnaedo

June 3, 2015 7:20 PM

The man, Anthony Kulkamp Dias was kept conscious during his operation to remove a tumour and played the British classic for the surgery team

A 33-year old Brazilian man is making international headlines after playing The Beatles’s 'Yesterday' on the guitar while having brain surgery.

The man, Anthony Kulkamp Dias was kept conscious during his operation to remove a tumour and played the British classic for the surgery team.

He also played 'Emanuel', a song he wrote for his newborn son, as well as Brazilian country songs.

Speaking on the feat, Kulkamp said “the doctors asked me to repeat one of the country songs so I even had an encore"

Reports Kulkamp, who played guitar professionally for 20 years, discovered the tumour 15 days after his son was born a few months ago, adding that he could not even say the name of his car and was stammering as a result.

Telegraph reports that Kulkamp underwent surgery while conscious, and played a guitar balanced on his stomach.

Said Kulkamp,

“I played six songs at certain times,” he said. “My right hand was a bit weaker because that was the side that they were operating on. So I stopped and rested. I was interspersing songs and talking with them.”

The pioneering surgery allowed doctors to safely map the patient’s brain while awake to avoid injury that could compromise important brain functions.

Speaking on why Kulkamp was kept awake for the surgery, Dr Jean Abreu Machado, clinical director, said:

“By keeping the patient awake during surgery, these areas can be monitored in real time. A kind of mapping of important areas can be done. It really is a great challenge for the whole surgery team, including the anaesthetist.”

He added that the brain tissue does not have pain sensors but the skin and other structures do.

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