A woman with Parkinson’s disease played the clarinet during a four-hour-long awake brain operation in London.
Sixty-five-year-old Denise Bacon underwent a deep brain stimulation procedure to ease slowness and stiffness caused by the disease, which affected her walking, dancing and clarinet playing.
After a successful operation, Bacon said she was “feeling pleased” that she will be able to “play the clarinet again”.
Neurosurgeon Keyoumars Ashkan led the procedure and said such surgeries, where the patient is awake, are often performed to assess mobility improvements in real time.
“In Denise’s case, one of her clear goals was to play the clarinet again, so the best way to assess that was to have her play during the operation to test finger movements and speed,” Ashkan told the BBC.
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