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Musician Plays Guitar While Surgeons Operate On His Brain

Musician Plays Guitar While Surgeons Operate On His Brain

The patient was given a local anaesthetic while surgeons operated on the tumour.

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A talented musician who had a brain tumour was filmed playing his guitar while surgeons operated on him.

In the incredible clip, instrumentalist Musa Manzini, from South Africa, can be seen holding his guitar and plucking on the strings while on the operating table.

According to one of the doctors involved in the procedure, the patient needed to play the guitar in order to help guide the surgeons as they operated on his brain while trying to 'preserve natural pathways'.

For the successful operation - which is also known as 'awake crainiotomy' - Mr Manzini was only given local anaesthetic, at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban.

During an 'awake craniotomy' it has been known for some doctors perform a procedure called cortical mapping, which involves stimulating the brain surface with a tiny electrical probe.

TRT World

By doing this they aim to protect these pathways and if there are signs that things are changing surgeons are able to stop and reevaluate the situation.

Speaking about the procedure, Dr Harrichandparsad said playing an instrument was integral to its success.

He told local news: "It increased the margin of safety for us, in that we could have real-time feedback on what we were doing intraoperatively."

According to reports, the fascinating surgery is not that uncommon and has been carried out in a number of countries, with some patients even singing during operations.

The Metro reported that in 2015 an instrumentalist in Spain played the saxophone during a procedure, and an opera singer sang during a brain operation in the Netherlands a year earlier.

By playing the guitar surgeons were able to test the patient's 'ability to produce music' while undergoing an incredibly delicate operation.

It was a way for doctors - towards the end of the surgery - to check everything had gone to plan.

A photo and video taken by the medical team have been circulated, showing Mr Manzini playing several notes on the instrument, with on member of staff saying 'There you are, do your thing'.

Dr. Basil Enicker, who also operated on Mr Manzini, said around 90 percent of his tumour was removed and he is now trying to get back to full health.

He said: "Our main aim was to make sure that we do the best that we can for our patient."

Featured Image Credit: TRT World/Instagram

Topics: World News, Interesting