While on surgery, a 32-year-old brain tumor patient played a flute at the same time the doctors were operating on her.
April Rodriguez Oliveros, a teacher in the Philippines, said that she didn’t feel nervous at all knowing that her brain was being operated on while she was awake.
“The good thing about awake craniotomy is that we allow the surgeon to remove the brain tumor without damaging the patient’s brain since they’re awake,”
Anesthesiologist Dr. Tata Abalajon
Abalajon added that Oliveros was consented to do the operation and it was of utmost importance that the patient is willing to cooperate during the procedure.
The doctors made her play the flute, count, and talk while the operation was on-going in order to monitor her motor sensory and speech.
In the Philippines, there are only 3 hospitals that offer awake craniotomy as there are only limited surgeons and staff who are confident enough to perform this procedure.
Oliveros successfully got through the surgery and said that “she was feeling fine”; she only felt like there was something fiddling around in her head during the surgery.