Violinist plays Mahler and Gershwin to save her music as surgeons remove brain tumour

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A patient at a British hospital played Mahler and Gershwin on the violin while a tumour was removed from her brain so that surgeons could preserve her ability to play music and her 40-year passion for the instrument.

 

Dagmar Turner, 53, a former management consultant from the Isle of Wight, played her violin during an operation to remove a tumour from the right frontal lobe of her brain - close to the area that controls the fine movement of her left hand.

 

To prevent any damage to her violin skills, Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, Consultant Neurosurgeon at King's College Hospital, came up with a plan: they would map her brain, open the skull and then get her to play as they removed the tumour.

 

While surgeons cut away part of her brain, Turner played music by Gustav Mahler, George Gershwin's jazz classic "Summertime" and pieces by Spanish songwriter and singer Julio Iglesias.

 

"This was the first time I’ve had a patient play an instrument," said Ashkan. "We managed to remove over 90 percent of the tumour, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity, while retaining full function in her left hand."

 

Turner thanked the surgeons.

 

"The violin is my passion; I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old," he said. "The thought of losing my ability to play was heart-breaking."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-19

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I didn't want to lose the ability to self pleasure.

What a wonderful story. I hope it all works out for her.

1 minute ago, Nyezhov said:

What a wonderful story. I hope it all works out for her.

Absolutely agree.

 

We might differ on any number of things but we all share our human frailty.

 

I wish her the fullest recovery.

 

And too to anyone facing serious health challenges, regardless of who they are or anything else that may characterize them.

Excuse may ignorance, but how exactly did the playing help? Did it somehow give the surgeons feedback as they poked around?

10 minutes ago, Paradise Pete said:

Excuse may ignorance, but how exactly did the playing help? Did it somehow give the surgeons feedback as they poked around?

I guess that was the idea. The surgeons would have incrementally removed tissue while relying on the patient's continuance to control her hand movements. I can only presume that the area of the brain they were "poking around" in is not entirely specific in that control and maybe some sort of stimulis  was applied before extracting  any piece of tissue? Interesting and amazing but if that was the day the music died I would guess it would still be  better than leaving  the tumour?

Maybe they can scan and tell which areas of the brain are active while she playing.