Patient with brain tumour sang “Beatles classic” while playing guitar during brain surgery
33-year old Anthony Kulkamp Dias sang “Yesterday” while strumming on a guitar during his brain surgery. The Brazilian bank worker performed the Beatles classic by singing and playing the guitar himself, whilst a team of surgeons operated on his brain.
A professional guitarist of 20 years, Anthony Dias discovered a tumour in his brain 15 days after his son was born. The surgery was conducted while he was conscious last week and the guitar was balanced on his stomach.
“I played six songs at certain times,” he said.
Medical reason behind keeping the patient awake
In order to conduct cerebral monitoring, Dias was kept conscious which is “important to prevent injuries that occur in the sensory, motor and speech areas of the brain.”
Dias maintained a camaraderie with the doctors while performing and even responded to questions about how the surgery was affecting his brain.
Clinical Director of the hospital, Dr Jean Abreu Machado, where Dias’s surgery was conducted stretched on the importance of keeping the patient awake.
“It really is a great challenge for the whole surgery team, including the anaesthetist. This is because the brain tissue does not have pain sensors, but the skin and surrounding structures do. At this point, the anaesthetist’s challenge begins: to keep the patient awake and pain-free.”
Dias played a song written for his newborn son
A song written for his newborn son called “Emanuel” was also performed by Dias, as well as Brazilian country songs.
“The doctors asked me to repeat one of the country songs so I even had an encore. 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.”
Dias was discharged on Wednesday after the success of the surgery.
