A Florida man recently helped surgeons remove a tumor from his brain by playing 1980s and 90s rock music.
Christian Nolen, a professional guitarist in the south Florida community of Coral Gables, was instructed by doctors to play several songs on his guitar while undergoing an awake craniotomy meant to take a tumor out of the right side of his frontal lobe, WSVN Miami reported.
The surgery which Nolen underwent is performed while a patient is awake and alert to evaluate and protect brain functions.
During his procedure at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in early January, Nolen played several songs by rock groups the Deftones and System of a Down.
“It was just like out of this world, like, to just like wake up and like have people actively working inside of your head,” Nolen said to WSVN Miami. “It’s kind of an insane feeling.”
Nolen was first diagnosed with the tumor after experiencing symptoms that affected the left side of his body.
“I had lost feeling in my whole left side. From the waist up, like, I wasn’t able to move my arm, my face began to drag,” Nolen told WSVN. Nolen also had trouble playing his guitar and using his left hand in general.
Ultimately, doctors diagnosed Nolen with a glioma – a tumor seen in the brain – on his right frontal lobe. That area of the brain controls movement and other cognitive abilities, Messenger reported.
Doctors scheduled a surgery to remove Nolen’s tumor 10 days after the initial diagnosis. The goal of the surgery was to confirm the type of tumor and to remove as much of the mass as possible.
Before surgery, doctors asked Nolen if he would be willing to play the guitar during the operation to test his dexterity.
Dr Ricardo Komotar, director of the University of Miami Brain Tumor Initiative, told Fox News that keeping a patient awake during this type of brain surgery is critical to monitor for any damage done to the brain.
“When a tumor is involving or near a critical part of the brain – something that controls the ability to speak or understand language or move – we want to do the surgery awake to continually monitor the patient, so you know if you start to violate normal brain functions,” Komotar said to Fox News.
While surprised at the the proposition, Nolen agreed.
“I’d only really heard of procedures of that nature being done in shows and movies,” Nolen said to Fox News over email. “I felt like it was such a unique experience that I couldn’t pass up – especially with my motor skills being on the line.”
The surgical center had performed awake craniotomies before. But the doctors specifically asked Nolen to play guitar rather than another instrument given his professional background.
Nolen was put to sleep for the beginning of the two-hour surgery. Then, the surgical team woke him up and asked him to play.
The process of being woken up during the surgery was “overwhelming”, Nolen told Fox News. But after remembering what was happening, he was able to “breathe and stay calm”.
“This is wild,” Nolen said during the procedure, Fox News reported.
Surgeons with the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center were able to successfully remove all of Nolen’s tumor and discharged him the day after the surgery. He was sent to recover at home.
Nolen was subsequently waiting on the final pathology results of the tumor. He was likely to undergo weeks of radiation and chemotherapy as additional, follow-up treatment, Fox News reported.
