6 ms·

Man plays guitar as doctors operate on his brain

26 points by happy-go-lucky 9y ago

exabrial 9y ago
I'm not sure whether or not I believe this actually happened...
- jameskilton 9y ago
  Could you explain why you wouldn't believe this?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- crossman 9y ago
  It's not exactly the first time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjX6ErmKY14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjX6ErmKY14
- transcranial 9y ago
  This is not at all uncommon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/12/21/live-from-the-or-patient-plays-saxophone-during-brain-surgery/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2... https://www.bustle.com/articles/35791-watch-inspiring-violinist-roger-frisch-play-during-brain-surgery-with-amazing-results-video https://www.bustle.com/articles/35791-watch-inspiring-violin... I've watched a few myself in person. Sometimes it's crucial to monitor preservation of function -- this is how it's done. Awake brain surgery isn't as crazy as it may seem.
  - tobz 9y ago
    Nice username... :) It's totally logical, but wildly scary sounding. Is there any sort of anesthesia that is delivered which... I don't know... changes your perception as the patient to not think about the fact someone is poking your brain? Clearly they can eliminate the local feeling of the surgery, but how do you stop people from freakinggggggg out that it's happening? :P
    - lightbyte 9y ago
      >Clearly they can eliminate the local feeling of the surgery They don't really do this, your brain has no pain receptors so you can't feel what they are doing by default. I do not think they would use any sort of drug to stop people from freaking out as well, because they would imply that the drug is messing with your brain chemistry in some way which can cloud any problems they are trying to notice. The whole idea behind the awake brain surgery is to quickly notice any changes in cognitive function from the person being operated on.
      - yorwba 9y ago
        I sure hope they apply some local anesthesia so you don't have to feel them saw open your skull. Of course the brain itself doesn't have pain receptors, but the surrounding skin does.
    - Grangar 9y ago
      Lots of talking and mental preparation beforehand. My father had surgery for glioblastoma (brain cancer), he had to stay awake and count so the surgeon knew he didn't remove anything important.
    - transcranial 9y ago
      A tremendous amount of trust is certainly involved. The brain itself doesn't actually have any pain receptors!
  - exabrial 9y ago
    It makes me sad my comment was downvoted, I approach new claims with skepticism (like a good scientist does). But thanks for the links! Very interesting!
2OEH8eoCRo 9y ago
Metal as fuck
rsiqueira 9y ago
See Rosemary Kennedy's brain lobotomy (she was the sister of President John F. Kennedy). She was awake and speaking during her brain operation, so doctor could know if he was messing with any important area. "When she began to become incoherent, they stopped." But of course it was too late. She became mentally impaired for the rest of her life. She was lobotomized because her father though it would improve her teenager behavior problems. The brain itself doesn't have Nociceptors (pain sensory neurons), so there is no pain below the skin and meninges area.
- amelius 9y ago
  > The brain itself doesn't have Nociceptors (pain sensory neurons), so there is no pain below the skin and meninges area. Isn't there even pain (during an operation) in the part of the brain that processes pain? And how about emotions?
  - AstralStorm 9y ago
    If you go that deep, you will hit other parts first. Damage to amygdala cam go either way.
- saiya-jin 9y ago
  What a horrible story... and horrible family. Once they fked up her completely for rest of her life (because she had mood swings??), they kept ignoring her just to not cause embarrassment to family. Heck, maybe he was actually relieved that she won't cause any troubles to their political careers. And these people get to rule the strongest country in the world, and are actually regarded as one of the best in the office, ever. I hope if this would happen these days her father would be jailed for life (I know they don't perform them anymore, just hoping that law matured enough).
dtien 9y ago
There was actually a story on NPR recently that mentioned such a brain operation where the patient needed brain surgery to alleviate some type of recurring seizure. And he was also a music lover, and so there was an inherent risk the surgeons said that he might lose those abilities. So rather than take that risk blindly, they had him play a guitar while they were doing surgery on his brain! And if at any point, while they were operating, if his playing ability was affected they would stop operating in that region of the brain. The kicker was that the side effect of the surgery ( his second ), was that they inadvertently affected a part of the brain that is responsible for 'self-control, judgement' and he ended up becoming a child porn addict, which got him arrested and convicted. There's about 5 different unbelievable parts to this story, worth a listen if you can find it. The Human Brain.. continually amazed at how much we still don't know about this part of our anatomy.
- thepaulstella 9y ago
  http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/
  - jjw1414 9y ago
    That's right - it was on the RadioLab podcast. I thought he was "listening" to music during the operation, and told the doctors to stop if his interpretation of the melody turned to white noise. The unsettling gist of the main story was the relationship between culpability and brain function. Worth a listen.
  - dtien 9y ago
    ah yes, that's it radiolab! good pull. I may have gotten a few of the musical details off, sorry! As for the main topic of the story of how brain affects culpability is an extremely interesting/debatable point. However, the even stronger point being made by one of the guests that free will itself is just a biological function was hard for me to swallow. As jjw1414 says, unsettling would be a mild description of some of the implications being made by the researcher on the piece.
- dTal 9y ago
mrkgnao 9y ago
Related: Christian Muenzner is an extreme metal guitarist who was diagnosed with focal dystonia in his left hand. He was part of Obscura, one of my favorite metal bands ever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Munzner#Focal_Dystonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Munzner#Focal_Dyston... -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPpXcvGpps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPpXcvGpps Listen to this from about 4:00 onwards, and tell me if you'd ordinarily be able to guess that the sounds you hear at 4:20 or so came out of a guitar. I wouldn't, at least not at once. After the diagnosis, he was faced with a, uh, unreliable left hand. There was nothing to do but take his right-hand "tapping" abilities to insane levels. :)
- mabramo 9y ago
  Great to see a fellow tech death/extreme metal lover here. Obscura, Necrophagist, and played with Ron Jarzombek. That's some history right there. Tom Fountainhead (ex-Obscura) recently published a cover of a track off Akroasis. Fretless guitar tapping everywhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AXZRGVrWk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AXZRGVrWk
  - mrkgnao 9y ago
    Hey! Tech-death isn't what I listen to nowadays, mostly, but it's where I started from. I learned to appreciate complexity in music from there, and branched out to other things. Still do enjoy the occasional Gorguts listen, though. (Your link is excellent.)
Tharkun 9y ago
Focal dystonia is pretty weird. Different body parts are mapped to different areas of the brain, but "overtraining" certain movements (like this guitarist) can cause that area to spill over into adjacent areas. Resulting in involuntary, task-specific, movements.
valbaca 9y ago
Pulled right out of a Grey's Anatomy episode (or vice versa is more likely): http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wilmer-valderrama-says-good-day-greys-anatomy-234986 http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wilmer-valderrama-says-good-day...

exabrial 9y ago

I'm not sure whether or not I believe this actually happened...

jameskilton 9y ago
Could you explain why you wouldn't believe this?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
crossman 9y ago
It's not exactly the first time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjX6ErmKY14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjX6ErmKY14
transcranial 9y ago
This is not at all uncommon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/12/21/live-from-the-or-patient-plays-saxophone-during-brain-surgery/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2... https://www.bustle.com/articles/35791-watch-inspiring-violinist-roger-frisch-play-during-brain-surgery-with-amazing-results-video https://www.bustle.com/articles/35791-watch-inspiring-violin... I've watched a few myself in person. Sometimes it's crucial to monitor preservation of function -- this is how it's done. Awake brain surgery isn't as crazy as it may seem.
- tobz 9y ago
  Nice username... :) It's totally logical, but wildly scary sounding. Is there any sort of anesthesia that is delivered which... I don't know... changes your perception as the patient to not think about the fact someone is poking your brain? Clearly they can eliminate the local feeling of the surgery, but how do you stop people from freakinggggggg out that it's happening? :P
  - lightbyte 9y ago
    >Clearly they can eliminate the local feeling of the surgery They don't really do this, your brain has no pain receptors so you can't feel what they are doing by default. I do not think they would use any sort of drug to stop people from freaking out as well, because they would imply that the drug is messing with your brain chemistry in some way which can cloud any problems they are trying to notice. The whole idea behind the awake brain surgery is to quickly notice any changes in cognitive function from the person being operated on.
    - yorwba 9y ago
      I sure hope they apply some local anesthesia so you don't have to feel them saw open your skull. Of course the brain itself doesn't have pain receptors, but the surrounding skin does.
  - Grangar 9y ago
    Lots of talking and mental preparation beforehand. My father had surgery for glioblastoma (brain cancer), he had to stay awake and count so the surgeon knew he didn't remove anything important.
  - transcranial 9y ago
    A tremendous amount of trust is certainly involved. The brain itself doesn't actually have any pain receptors!
- exabrial 9y ago
  It makes me sad my comment was downvoted, I approach new claims with skepticism (like a good scientist does). But thanks for the links! Very interesting!

2OEH8eoCRo 9y ago

Metal as fuck

rsiqueira 9y ago

See Rosemary Kennedy's brain lobotomy (she was the sister of President John F. Kennedy). She was awake and speaking during her brain operation, so doctor could know if he was messing with any important area. "When she began to become incoherent, they stopped." But of course it was too late. She became mentally impaired for the rest of her life. She was lobotomized because her father though it would improve her teenager behavior problems. The brain itself doesn't have Nociceptors (pain sensory neurons), so there is no pain below the skin and meninges area.

amelius 9y ago
> The brain itself doesn't have Nociceptors (pain sensory neurons), so there is no pain below the skin and meninges area. Isn't there even pain (during an operation) in the part of the brain that processes pain? And how about emotions?
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  If you go that deep, you will hit other parts first. Damage to amygdala cam go either way.
saiya-jin 9y ago
What a horrible story... and horrible family. Once they fked up her completely for rest of her life (because she had mood swings??), they kept ignoring her just to not cause embarrassment to family. Heck, maybe he was actually relieved that she won't cause any troubles to their political careers. And these people get to rule the strongest country in the world, and are actually regarded as one of the best in the office, ever. I hope if this would happen these days her father would be jailed for life (I know they don't perform them anymore, just hoping that law matured enough).

dtien 9y ago

There was actually a story on NPR recently that mentioned such a brain operation where the patient needed brain surgery to alleviate some type of recurring seizure. And he was also a music lover, and so there was an inherent risk the surgeons said that he might lose those abilities. So rather than take that risk blindly, they had him play a guitar while they were doing surgery on his brain! And if at any point, while they were operating, if his playing ability was affected they would stop operating in that region of the brain. The kicker was that the side effect of the surgery ( his second ), was that they inadvertently affected a part of the brain that is responsible for 'self-control, judgement' and he ended up becoming a child porn addict, which got him arrested and convicted. There's about 5 different unbelievable parts to this story, worth a listen if you can find it. The Human Brain.. continually amazed at how much we still don't know about this part of our anatomy.

thepaulstella 9y ago
http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/
- jjw1414 9y ago
  That's right - it was on the RadioLab podcast. I thought he was "listening" to music during the operation, and told the doctors to stop if his interpretation of the melody turned to white noise. The unsettling gist of the main story was the relationship between culpability and brain function. Worth a listen.
- dtien 9y ago
  ah yes, that's it radiolab! good pull. I may have gotten a few of the musical details off, sorry! As for the main topic of the story of how brain affects culpability is an extremely interesting/debatable point. However, the even stronger point being made by one of the guests that free will itself is just a biological function was hard for me to swallow. As jjw1414 says, unsettling would be a mild description of some of the implications being made by the researcher on the piece.
dTal 9y ago

mrkgnao 9y ago

Related: Christian Muenzner is an extreme metal guitarist who was diagnosed with focal dystonia in his left hand. He was part of Obscura, one of my favorite metal bands ever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Munzner#Focal_Dystonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Munzner#Focal_Dyston... -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPpXcvGpps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPpXcvGpps Listen to this from about 4:00 onwards, and tell me if you'd ordinarily be able to guess that the sounds you hear at 4:20 or so came out of a guitar. I wouldn't, at least not at once. After the diagnosis, he was faced with a, uh, unreliable left hand. There was nothing to do but take his right-hand "tapping" abilities to insane levels. :)

mabramo 9y ago
Great to see a fellow tech death/extreme metal lover here. Obscura, Necrophagist, and played with Ron Jarzombek. That's some history right there. Tom Fountainhead (ex-Obscura) recently published a cover of a track off Akroasis. Fretless guitar tapping everywhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AXZRGVrWk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_AXZRGVrWk
- mrkgnao 9y ago
  Hey! Tech-death isn't what I listen to nowadays, mostly, but it's where I started from. I learned to appreciate complexity in music from there, and branched out to other things. Still do enjoy the occasional Gorguts listen, though. (Your link is excellent.)

Tharkun 9y ago

Focal dystonia is pretty weird. Different body parts are mapped to different areas of the brain, but "overtraining" certain movements (like this guitarist) can cause that area to spill over into adjacent areas. Resulting in involuntary, task-specific, movements.

valbaca 9y ago

Pulled right out of a Grey's Anatomy episode (or vice versa is more likely): http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wilmer-valderrama-says-good-day-greys-anatomy-234986 http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wilmer-valderrama-says-good-day...