Yayin Bati from Flintshire experienced a brainoperation which lasted 5 hours. He spent a part of the operation in his consciousness. The doctors had to remove 95% of the tumor, but they were afraid of damaging the healthy parts of the brain responsible for speech, senses and movements.
An operation without the use of general anesthesia was the only option. If any circumstances had gone wrong, the man could have lost sensitivity of the face and of the upper body.
The surgeons asked the patient questions about whether he felt tingling when they were touching various parts of the brain. According to the patient, he felt no pain.
If the stimulation of the brain did not cause tingling in the face or in the left hand, the surgeons continued to remove the tumor. When some sensation appeared, they stopped. The patient could watch the whole process of removing astrocytoma, the glial tumor, on the monitor.
Now the patient still has some side effects (his short-term memory is not too good), but the doctors say that his life is not threatened any longer.
Source of the image: Photl.
