Musician Dagmar Turner playing the violin during brain surgery at King's College Hospital in London. AFP

Gulf Today Report

Doctors at a British hospital performed a rare kind of procedure for the removal of a tumour in a patient’s brain. The patient played a violin while the surgery was going on, in order to preserve her ability to play music.

Dagmar Tunrer, 53, has been playing the violin for 40 years. Turner playing the violin made it easy for the doctors to remove the tumour from the right frontal lobe of her brain-close to the area that controls the fine movement of her left hand.

The violinist played Mahler and Gershwin during the surgery.

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To prevent any damage to her violin skills, Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, Consultant Neurosurgeon at King’s College Hospital, came up with a plan: they would map her brain, open the skull and then get her to play as they removed the tumour.

"This was the first time I’ve had a patient play an instrument," said Ashkan. "We managed to remove over 90 per cent of the tumour, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity, while retaining full function in her left hand."

Dagmar thanked the surgeons.

"The violin is my passion; I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old," he said. "The thought of losing my ability to play was heart-breaking."