“Insane Feeling”: Man Plays Guitar During His Brain Tumour Surgery

A man in Florida, United States recently underwent a brain tumour surgery and played the guitar while the surgery was being conducted. Christian Nolen, a patient at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, was asked to play notes on an instrument by the neurological team from the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Centre. This allowed them to assess and safeguard his manual dexterity while they conducted an awake craniotomy which meant to take a tumor out of the right side of his frontal lobe, as per a report in the Fox News. 

He was diagnosed after experiencing symptoms that affected his body’s left side. According to the report, Mr Nolen, a guitarist, played several songs by rock groups the Deftones and System of a Down. Ricardo Komotar, Managing Director of the brain tumour program at Sylvester, told Fox News, “Christian was having issues with the left side of his body, particularly his left hand. He was noticing issues with his dexterity that affected his ability to play the guitar.”

The doctor added, “When a tumour 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.” The surgeon stated that the surgical team cannot obtain feedback while the patient is unconscious.

Given the significance of Mr Nolen’s guitar playing for his quality of life, Komotar claimed that having him pick up the instrument in the operating room was “no better way” to keep an eye on his manual dexterity and the tumour’s impact. The guitarist was surprised and stated that the option “didn’t seem real.” He told the outlet, “I’d only really heard of procedures of that nature being done in shows and movies. 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 risk of being sedated for the entire procedure outweighed any fear or anxieties around the procedure itself.”

The doctors put Mr Nolen to sleep before the surgery and he was woken up during a delicate part of the procedure. A few minutes later, they gave him a guitar and asked him to play. “Upon awakening, it was quite overwhelming to see everything around me and to fight the natural reaction to sit up. I just had to breathe and stay calm,” Mr Nolen recalled.

While Mr Nolen was playing the guitar, the doctors were constantly keeping an eye on his hand function as they removed the tumour. The doctor said, “As we were finishing the case at the very back of the tumour, we noticed that his hand function started to decline. The tumour was touching and interfacing with the part of the brain that controls hand movement. Fortunately, we were able to remove the entire tumour and not injure his hand.”

“This is wild,” the patient said during the craniotomy.

Further, the surgery was successful and the team at the hospital was able to remove the entire tumour. Mr Noel faced some difficulties initially due to post-surgery restrictions but now is back to the gym and playing the guitar with improvement in his left hand. 

“Christian did terrific. He went home the day after surgery. He says his quality of life is better than it’s ever been, so I think his recovery has been remarkable,” the doctor added.