So he had Turner play from her London hospital bed — while staff operated.
The scene was a testament to the success of a once-contentious procedure now embraced in hospitals around the world. Surgeons working close to parts of the brain that control important functions such as speech or movement routinely keep patients awake to best determine where tumor gives way to something vital.
The Washington Post reports:
King’s College Hospital, which treated Turner, often gives people language tests during such surgeries, said Keyoumars Ashkan, the neurosurgeon who oversaw Turner’s delicate operation, and who also happens to be a musician. But last month’s procedure marked the first time he’d presided over a private serenade.
Turner learned in 2013 that she had a slow-growing tumor in her brain’s right frontal lobe, according to the hospital. That meant it wasn’t far from the tissue that gives her left hand such fine control over her violin’s notes.
Turner went under general anesthesia while they opened her skull. But the brain itself does not have pain receptors, and she was wide-awake for the tumor’s removal, playing Gershwin, Mahler and more.
The instrument was more than a hobby for the former management consultant who plays with the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. It was a passion — one she had cultivated since she was 10 years old.
There was one hitch in the four-hour procedure, Ashkan told British media: Turner’s bow almost hit him in the head.
Amazing!
