Indian musician plays guitar as doctors perform brain surgery

By Zeyad Masroor Khan

 

 

(Reuters) - Musician Abhishek Prasad strummed his guitar throughout his neurosurgery to help doctors zero in on the part of the brain being operated on during the first such procedure in India.

 

The 37-year-old had been suffering from musician's dystonia, a neurological movement disorder which leads to involuntary muscle contractions.

 

Prasad had to be kept conscious during the surgery as the doctors needed continuous feedback to work out exactly which parts of the brain were to be targeted to stop the cramps affecting the three fingers on his left hand.

 

So the obvious thing was to play his guitar.

 

It is only the eighth time in the world that such a procedure has been undertaken with the patient being conscious, a statement by Bengaluru's Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain hospital said on Friday.

 

"A 14-mm hole was made in the skull and a specialized electrode was passed into the brain under local anesthesia," Sharan Srinivasan, a stereotactic and functional neurosurgeon at the hospital, said.

 

Prasad was overwhelmed with the outcome after suffering since October 2015 with the disorder that could have ended his career.

 

He had tried several hospitals to find a cure, but most doctors could not diagnose the problem or had focused on the cramps rather than the neurological activity causing them.

 

"It was a very emotional moment for me and my family. This is what I have been waiting for," said Prasad, who had quit his IT job to pursue a career in music.

 

"It was very disheartening and depressing for me. I used to cry often due to that. Every morning I would wake up and try to play the guitar. But after 5 minutes, I gave up."

 

The disorder is estimated to affect around 1-2 percent of all professional musicians.

 

After the surgery on July 11, he will need a couple of weeks of physiotherapy to help his recovery and get back to performing pain-free.

 

"My first target is to release an album by the end of this year or the middle of next year," Prasad said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-22

 

hope everything goes well for him. I have been trying to play the

guitar for many years and still can,t. very rude of the nurse two fingers

didn't you watch silence of the lambs, the brain has no nerves.

 

mind boggling

Most people have no idea of the physical requirements for playing instruments.  Pretty much every one who's been playing a long time has issues.  Arthritis due to repetitive movements is the big one.

 

Best of luck to this guy!

On 22/07/2017 at 4:37 PM, oldgent said:

hope everything goes well for him. I have been trying to play the

guitar for many years and still can,t. very rude of the nurse two fingers

You mistake the "V" for victory sign with the "bird". The nurse did not invert her fingers,

it was a sign of the best things to come.

You could use the same type of finger pointing by the nurse to strum your guitar.

Of course if you played the other "bird" like strum, maybe you become the new rap star.

12 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Most people have no idea of the physical requirements for playing instruments.  Pretty much every one who's been playing a long time has issues.  Arthritis due to repetitive movements is the big one.

 

Best of luck to this guy!

Of course that would account for the Rolling Stones. "Keef" can still pluck a few tunes,

as does the rest of this aged band. And they still pull a crowd. Charlie Watts, suffers from Parkinsons.

Put a drum in front of him and it disappears. 

 Repetitive Stress Syndrome affects a lot of us. But sometime we enjoy what we are doing.

And so does the audience.

31 minutes ago, spiderorchid said:

Of course that would account for the Rolling Stones. "Keef" can still pluck a few tunes,

as does the rest of this aged band. And they still pull a crowd. Charlie Watts, suffers from Parkinsons.

Put a drum in front of him and it disappears. 

 Repetitive Stress Syndrome affects a lot of us. But sometime we enjoy what we are doing.

And so does the audience.

My hero, Tony Rice.  Lost his voice first, now can't play, and is facing hard times.  One of the best bluegrass players there is.

 

https://bluegrasstoday.com/time-to-give-back-to-tony-rice/

Quote

 

Tony Rice, perhaps the most influential acoustic musician of his generation, is facing hard times. Most everyone reading this will be aware that he lost the ability to sing some years ago, and those who have read his brilliant biography, Still Inside, know that he had expressed little concern, finding a sort of freedom in being able to focus solely on the guitar.

 

But this past year or so has found arthritis robbing him of that as well, leaving this legendary guitarist unable to ply his trade. Not only is that a painful loss to music lovers world wide, it has stolen from Tony his means to earn a living. At first he attempted to soldier on, playing through pain, but as even that became difficult, he has had to cancel the shows that were booked.

 

 

8 hours ago, spiderorchid said:

You mistake the "V" for victory sign with the "bird". The nurse did not invert her fingers,

it was a sign of the best things to come.

You could use the same type of finger pointing by the nurse to strum your guitar.

Of course if you played the other "bird" like strum, maybe you become the new rap star.

her fingers are round the wrong way for the V sign , in todays world that has a totally 

different meaning