A 32-year-old techie-turned-musician in India’s IT capital, Bengaluru strummed his guitar while being operated.
The doctors operating on Arjun (named changed) were treating the young musician’s dystonia, a neurological condition that cramped Arjun’s three fingers on his left hand.
Musician’s dystonia occurs due to abnormal and involuntary flexion of muscles due to rigorous use.
Dr Sharan Srinivasan, a stereotactic and functional neurosurgeon at Jain Institute of Movement Disorders and Stereotactic Neurosurgery, told The Times of India: "This is a surgery where the part of the brain triggering abnormal tremors is destroyed by burning. Before the surgery, a special frame was fixed to his head with four screws going deep into the skull following which an MRI was conducted."
Dr Sanjiv C C, a senior neurologist from the University of British Columbia, said, "This problem occurred when he tried to play the instrument and real-time feedback was important for us to ascertain the exact location of the target to be repaired."
So Arjun played his guitar while surgeons located the exact place and "burned" a part of his brain to correct the neurological disorder.
The seven-hour surgery was successful and Arjun can move his fingers now.
"I was amazed to see my fingers improve magically on the operation table itself. By the end of the surgery, my fingers were 100% cured and I could move them like before. Within three days of surgery, I walked out of the hospital all set to play guitar again," Arjun said.
