A patient at King’s College Hospital in London has undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor while simultaneously playing her violin during the procedure. The unconventional approach was taken to ensure that the patient, 53-year-old Dagmar Turner from the Isle of Wight, still had control over areas of the brain responsible for coordination and hand movement.
- She played scales and other improvised songs. Turner, who was diagnosed with a large grade 2 (slow growing) glioma after suffering a seizure during a symphony in 2013, requested that doctors wake her from general anesthesia halfway through the procedure to remove the tumor so that she could play, ensuring surgeons didn’t damage important parts of her brain.
- Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, Consultant Neurosurgeon at King’s College Hospital, helped her come up with the plan. Together, they extensively mapped her brain so that they could identify which parts were engaged when Turner played the violin. Because Turner’s tumor was located in the frontal right lobe of her brain, they had to be extremely careful and precise when removing it.
- Turner was closely monitored throughout the procedure. As she underwent the craniotomy, a team of anesthetists and a therapist were on hand to monitor her condition at all times as she played and the surgeons worked. “King’s is one of the largest brain tumor centers in the UK. We perform around 400 resections (tumor removals) each year, which often involves rousing patients to carry out language tests, but this was the first time I’ve had a patient play an instrument,” Ashkan said following the procedure. “We knew how important the violin is to Dagmar so it was vital that we preserved function in the delicate areas of her brain that allowed her to play. We managed to remove over 90 percent of the tumor, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity while retaining full function in her left hand.”
- Turner wasn’t going to give up on her passion. Losing the ability to play the violin simply wasn’t an option for Turner, who’s part of the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra as well as several orchestral societies. “The violin is my passion; I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old. The thought of losing my ability to play was heart-breaking but, being a musician himself, Prof Ashkan understood my concerns,” she said. “He and the team at King’s went out of their way to plan the operation – from mapping my brain to planning the position I needed to be in to play. Thanks to them I’m hoping to be back with my orchestra very soon.”
- Turner was discharged from the hospital three days after the procedure. She will continue to be monitored by her local hospital following her surgery to remove the tumor and hopes to get back to playing the violin ASAP.
